Glass Moon
by Psyco-Gotenks
Summary: After the death of Aizen Sousuke, a vasto lorde arrancar takes charge of Los Noches and, with his army of hollows and naturally created arrancar, seeks to harvest the spiritual energy that lies within Karakura City.
1. Beginnings

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters. The only characters I own are Murakami Shinta and the original Arrancar that appear throughout this fic.

Hitsugaya Yuki belongs to KyokoKitten and was used with her permission.

Well, I've been wanting to write a Bleach fic for a while and recently a plot came to me. I hope you all enjoy reading this fic as much as I will writing it. Also, feel free to read KyokoKitten's Bleach stories since this story is based off the timeline those ones go off of. It is not really required to understand what is going on in this story, but you'll at least understand some of the details that lead up to this story.

Plus, it gives you all something to do while you wait for me to update my story.

Anyways, enjoy.

**Glass Moon**

A cold wind blew through the empty night sky of Hueco Mundo. Deep within this empty world, a lone figure sat across the edge of the tallest tower of Los Noches. He ignored the wind as it blew through him, sending his fine, long blue hair in a wild mess. This figure wore an inverted shikakusho with a black haori draped over his shoulders. Clearly marked on his back in white numbers was the number -1, as if to mock his most hated enemy. Upon his deathly pale face was a bone C, going around most of his right eye. Slowly, he gazed up towards the moon, reaching out as if to grab it.

"Aedric-sama, the results have come in," a voice in the darkness spoke. Clenching his fist upon the moon he had reached out for, the arrancar named Aedric stood up.

"I'll be there shortly," he stated. Quickly spinning around, he slicked his hair back to its original position and headed back into the recesses of Los Noches.

* * *

Moments later, Aedric and the arrancar who called him were in what looked like a research room. Spread across multiple autopsy tables were the bodies of several dead hollows, each of which were being worked upon.

Shortly after the death of Aizen and the release of the unnumbereds, Aedric and his followers came out of the depths of Hueco Mundo and quickly took over Los Noches. All surviving arrancar were then forced to swear loyalty to Aedric Nat, a vasto lorde who became an arrancar naturally.

"According to the data we have gathered, the hollows infused with Kiauna-sama's venom managed to severely cripple the shinigami, causing many casualties," the arrancar explained.

"Did they manage to devour any captains?" Aedric asked, glancing at a body in the far corner of the room.

"Unfortunately not. However-"

"I see. You may leave me now," Aedric interrupted, sounding clearly disinterested with anything else. The arrancar bowed down and quickly exited the room.

"The power of a captain..." Aedric muttered to himself, walking towards the body he spotted earlier, "The evolution of a hollow requires vast amounts of reiatsu, gained by feeding upon thousands of souls. To this day, a hollow has yet to have devour a shinigami of captain rank. Could devouring such a creature with vast amounts of reiatsu speed the process up? Or perhaps go beyond what is known...?"

Aedric suddenly stopped and gazed down upon the lifeless body before him.

"There is only enough room in Heaven for one king wouldn't you agree, Aizen Sousuke?"

* * *

It was a bright and sunny afternoon in the Seireitei. It was definitely not the type of day which would signal a chain of events which could ultimately upset the balance between three worlds. On such a day, the shinigami Murakami Shinta, was stuck cleaning up trash around the 11th division headquarters. Standing at 5' 4", Shinta did not stand out much. He kept his medium length black hair down, with his bangs slightly covering his bright green eyes. The only unusual feature about him as that he carried his zanpakuto around with him, which was quite unusual since he belonged to the 4th division.

"Oi, kid! You missed a spot!" shouted a random shinigami.

"Be right there..." Shinta grumbled. Even though he belonged to the 4th division, Shinta was terrible at healing kidou. In fact, the only thing he was good at was swordplay, and even that was only slightly above average. Of course, it didn't help that his zanpakuto was of a more defensive nature.

"Hey! Catch!" another one shouted. Out of nowhere a can suddenly hit Shinta on the head. As much as he hated it, during his time in the 4th division he learned that it was best to ignore those of the 11th division while he was on trash duty. As to why a bunch of medics were in charge of cleaning up trash, he would never know.

"Hey, check it out. This weakling thinks he's a fighter," one of the shinigami shouted while pointing at Shinta's zanpakuto.

"Ha! I wonder if he can even lift it!"

"Yeah! Maybe he thinks he can beat one of us!"

"Hey kid, you wanna fight or something?" the others laughed. Shinta continued on with his work, pretending that the others weren't there.

"...Tch! C'mon guys, this is boring. Let's go." After realizing that Shinta wasn't going to react, the others walked off. Once they were gone, he looked up towards the sky.

"And to think I wanted to join 11th..." he sighed to himself.

* * *

Meanwhile at the 9th division captain's quarters, Hitsugaya Yuki stared groggily at her lieutenant from her bed. Much like her name suggested, she was Hitsugaya Toushiro's twin sister. Her long white hair was tied back into a spiky ponytail with a large strand of hair covering the left side of her face and eye down to her shoulder. A thinner chin length strand fell over the right side. Beneath the left strand was a long scar going over her eye, from when she was wounded in a battle shortly after she became a captain.

"What is it, Shuuhei...?" she asked groggily, rubbing her good eye.

"You have a meeting with the other captains in a half hour," he explained quietly. Yuki wasn't much of a morning person, even though it was the afternoon; she didn't like to be woken up so suddenly. Hisagi know this and he know that if he wasn't careful, he could get seriously hurt.

"Oh, right...I forgot about that," she muttered. Just when it looked like she was ready to get up, she pulled her blanket over her head, "Just give me five more minutes..."

"C-captain! This is serious! You should hurry and get rea-" he suddenly stopped. Yuki slowly poked her head out of the blanket.

"Were you saying something, Shuuhei...?" she asked, with a special emphasis on his name.

"Right, five minutes," he quickly said, slowly backing out of Yuki's room.

* * *

"Heeeeeeeh. So this is Soul Society, huh?"

A tall figure stood upon a mountain, several miles away from the Rokongai. The man wore a long white trench coat with white cargo pants. With a hole in his chest and three crest like pieces extending from the center of his forehead to a foot behind his head, this man could easily be identified as an arrancar. He had two red scar like marks going over his eyes and had his black hair spiked back in a similar style to his broken mask.

"This place feels so peaceful and alive...it makes me sick..." he muttered. Suddenly, he extended two of his fingers and cut across the sky, forming a crack.

"I'll show Aedric-sama that there is no need to wait. I am all that is needed to wipe out each and every single shinigami here!" he laughed. As the crack began to grow, several hands suddenly erupted from it.

"You guys hungry?! Then go into the Seireitei and kill! Kill and devour every shinigami you see! Eat them down to the bone and don't leave a single one standing!"

The crack suddenly shattered as hundreds of hollows descended upon the Soul Society.

"But..." the arrancar added,"Make sure you leave some for me. Now then, time to eat."


	2. A Fool's Errand

"Alert! Hollows have been spotted within the Seireitei! All personnel report to your stations! Repeat! All personnel report to your stations!"

The hollow assault hit the Seireitei harder than anyone could have suspected. Each of the four gates had been overtaken and broken down quickly. With the gates gone, the hollows began swarming the city, shinigami fell and were devoured quickly by the starving hollow. High in the sky, the crack grew bigger as more and more hollows descended. There seemed to be no end in sight.

Watching over the chaos he unleashed, the arrancar glanced back and forth while standing on a building.

"Heeeeeeeeeh. What a disappointment. I don't see any of those shinigami with the white haori..." he sighed." Aedric-sama said they were the strongest; those are the ones I want to eat."

"That's far enough, hollow," a voice from behind said. The arrancar glanced over to see a tall shinigami pointing a zanpakuto at his neck.

"Killing you should net me a seated position. Do you have any last words?"

Before he could act, the arrancar was suddenly behind the shinigami with one outstretched finger.

"Bala."

The attack hit the shinigami in the head, completely decapitating him. After a few seconds the body fell. Upon seeing this, the arrancar groaned.

"Hey!" he called out,"Somebody clean this up! I'd rather no spoil myself on junk food before the main course."

* * *

Elsewhere, Yuki finally stepped outside of the 9th division headquarters. Her squad stood outside, awaiting her orders. Yuki took a deep breath.

"As you all have heard, hollows have invaded the Seireitei. Our main objective is to recapture the gates and prevent any more hollows from breaking in. I want you all to separate into four separate groups and head towards each of the gates," she commanded, "I'll head towards the center of the Seireitei and eliminate as many hollows as possible."

Shortly after her speech, everyone took off for their destinations except for Yuki and Hisagi.

"Hisagi, why are you following me?"

"You have a bad habit of getting in trouble when you're alone," he said flatly.

"...What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't want to se you get hurt. You've already been in the hospital more times than I care to remember, so I'm coming with you."

Yuki growled upon hearing this. Although Hisagi couldn't see it, she smiled slightly.

"Fine. Do as you want."

And with that, Yuki ran off.

"Ah! Captain! Wait up!"

* * *

-Crash-

Shinta was thrown backwards when a nearby wall suddenly exploded. As he started to get up, a huge hollow came into view.

"Another weakling, hm? I thought I smelled something stronger..." the hollow said in its raspy voice. Shinta immediately stood up an unsheathed his zanpakuto.

"I have already eaten eight shinigami, you think a weakling like you can kill me?!" the hollow laughed.

"We'll see about that," Shinta growled, "Blossom, Kurohana!"

Upon saying its name, Shinta's zanpakuto changed. It was now a 2 1/2 foot long blade without a hilt. There was a large curve in the middle of the blade and all the edges were sharpened. Shinta's hand started bleeding from holding this new form. Shinta then rushed at the hollow and slashed, yet it jumped back a few feet, completely avoiding the attack.

"Ha! I've never seen a shinigami more pathetic than you! You were better off before releasing you sword!"

The hollow outstretched one of its long arms and hit Shinta straight in the chest, sending him flying backwards and into a nearby wall. He attempted to stand back up, but his knees buckled and he fell back to the ground.

"I guess you'll be number nine," the hollow laughed as it slowly walked towards Shinta.

"Hey, kid. I think you should get going."

Suddenly, five shinigami were standing between Shinta and the hollow, the same five from 11th that made fun of him earlier.

"I can still fight! I just need to-ugh!" Shinta started, but his legs gave out again.

"You are useless the way you are now! Just use the wall as leverage and get out of here!"

"Dammit..."

Shinta pulled himself up and slowly dragged himself away from the battle.

"That's interesting. I thought for sure you'd go after him," one of the shinigami said. The hollow just shook its head.

"If I did that, I would die the second I turned my back. Besides, he won't get far, he'll just be number 14 now," the hollow explained.

"Oh? You really think you can beat the five of us?"

"Heh heh...Who says I haven't already?"

Suddenly, five black tentacles erupted from the ground and tied themselves tightly around the shinigami.

"W-what the hell?!"

"My fingers," the hollow explained, "I can implant them into the ground and wrap them around careless, foolish shinigami. But, that's not all..."

A burning sensation started from around the hollow's fingers. The hollow laughed as the shinigami began screaming in pain.

"How do you like my acid? Souls taste so much better when they are screaming in agony! Now then, let me enjoy thi-ugh!" the hollow shouted at the sudden pain in its back. Turning its head back, it saw Shinta with Kurohana embedded into its back.

"So you came back to save them, eh? Well, you won't be able to kill me by stabbing me li-ARGH?!"

"Four seconds..." Shinta smiled. He then slowly withdrew his blade and returned it to its original form while the hollow disintegrated.

"W-what did you...?" the other shinigami stood in shock. A weak member of the 4th division just defeated a huge hollow in one blow.

"My zanpakuto rejects spiritual power. Whether it is outside of the body or not, it doesn't matter. So long as Kurohana is embedded in my opponent for four seconds, their own spiritual energy will destroy their body from the inside," he explained. Shinta stumbled over to the injured 11th division members, "I'm not very good at it, but I'll heal your wounds."

"What?! You're a medic and you're bad at healing?! What the hell?!"

"Sh-shut up! I just save your lives, you guys could at least be a little grateful!" Shinta grumbled.

* * *

Battles ensued throughout the entirety of the Seireitei. With the help of the captains, the shinigami slowly began to gain the upper hand. However, hollows still continued to storm though the gates.

"H-help us!"

The attempt to recapture the northern gate had failed. Shinigami were strewn about the battlefield, either injured or dead. The remaining defenders were surrounded by hollows.

"Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyorinmaru!"

When all hope was lost, a water dragon suddenly descended upon the battlefield, freezing all the hollows in solid ice. And within the center of it all stood a lone captain.

"Captain Hitsugaya!" the other shinigami shouted in relief. Hitsugaya then fired off another dragon, this time incasing the entire gate in ice.

"That should stop them for a while," he sighed. He then turned his sights towards the survivors. "Another squad should be her soon. Everyone, help carry the injured to the 4th division headquarters, I'll back you up."

The remaining shinigami nodded and started gathering everyone up. Hitsugaya looked over the torn up battlefield.

"Yuki...where are you?"

The arrancar gazed lazily over the Seireitei. He had yet to have seen a captain. To alleviate his boredom he had tried 'target practice' with his bala technique on the random shinigami that ran by his sight.

"What a waste of time," he moaned, "Those captains sure are harder to spot then I -hm?"

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted someone. A rather short shinigami wearing a white haori. A creepy smile began to form across his face.

"Bingo!" he shouted with glee. The arrancar then leapt with such force and speed that he looked like a missile homing in on its prey.

* * *

Meanwhile, both Yuki and Hisagi were still running towards the center. Just as they turned another corner, something suddenly crashed into the ground before them. When the dust cleared, they could see the clear shape of an arrancar. The arrancar looked the two of them over and, with a creepy grin, tilted his head to its side.

"Yo. You're a captain, aren't you?"

"...I am," Yuki responded. Upon hearing this, the arrancar laughed with glee.

"Ha! I knew it! I've waited so long for this. I'm sure you'll make a nice meal."

Yuki and Hisagi immediately drew their zanpakuto.

"So you're the one leading this attack, aren't you?" Hisagi asked.

"Yeah? And what of it?"

"Captain!"

Suddenly, several members of the 9th division appeared. They all quickly surrounded the arrancar.

"Heeeeeeeeeh. These your subordinates? They look pretty stupid to me."

"That's enough out of you, hollow! Attack!"

"No! Stop!" Yuki screamed, but it was too late. The swords of the 9th division cut up some of the arrancar's trench coat, but the blades themselves were unable to cut his skin.

"I thought so. If you weak-ass shinigami can't even pierce my hierro, then you aren't even worth my time," the arrancar said nonchalantly. Suddenly, a large amount of pressure could be felt. The shinigami around the arrancar were tossed aside by some invisible force. Yuki managed to be able to stay her ground, however Hisagi was sent down to one knee.

"Such a powerful reiatsu," Yuki gasped with wide eyes.

"I knew it! A captain is able to move normally, even while under the pressure of my reiatsu. Ah, it was definitely worth coming here," the arrancar laughed.

"Captain...You can't fight a monster like that alone...I'll..." Hisagi stopped. Regardless of how much he tried, he could not stand. The arrancar glanced at him.

"Shuuhei, don't worry. I can take this guy on, no problem."

"Heh, you're so stubborn..."

"...I'll take that as a complement," Yuki muttered as she pointed her zanpakuto towards the arrancar, "Freeze them, Korihoshi!"

Yuki's zanpakuto then changed. The blade grew to four feet long, starting off thin and getting thicker as it reached the end. The end of the blade looked as if two bite mark like chunks were taken off.

"Heeeeeeeeeeh. Releasing your zanpakuto right off the bat, eh? You're a lot smarter than most of the other weaklings I've seen running around," the hollow mused, "So, captain, what's your name?"

"I am the 9th division captain, Hitsugaya Yuki," she stated while rushing towards her enemy.

"I am the arrancar Jacint Morae Kraus. Pleased to meet you."

* * *

That's it for now. For those who are interested, Korihoshi means 'Icy Stars' and Kurohana means 'Black Flower'.


	3. Ballad of the Icy Stars

-Clash-

Yuki swung Korihoshi down strongly onto Jacint, yet before she could hit him, he struck with an equal amount of force with his right arm. The two of them stood there in a deadlock of power until Jacint pushed her away with his arm, sending Yuki straight into the sky. Yuki flipped in midair and landed upon the ground. Upon landing she then used a flash step to immediately cut the distance between herself and Jacint. Her attack was almost instantaneous and went straight for the arrancar's head. Jacint moved his head off to the side, missing the blade by mere inches. Suddenly, Jacint was on the defensive as Yuki began swinging her blade in a flurry of blows. Each attack was either dodged or parried. Yuki then went straight for a thrusting attack. Seeing this coming, Jacint bent backwards to avoid the attack. While Yuki was caught off guard Jacint flip kicked her in the face, sending her flying backwards. Yuki hit the ground with a dull thud, but got back up shortly afterwards. Jacint had a look of confusion on his face as he lifted his hand from his stomach. Blood dripped down from his fingers. Jacint then glanced at Yuki's zanpakuto, there was a little bit of blood dripping from the tip.

"Heeeeeeeeh. Looks like you are worth my time after all. If that's the case..." Jacint then opened up his trench coat to reveal his zanpakuto."If you can cut through my hierro then I'll have to be more careful."

And with a quick sonido, Jacint was behind Yuki. Jacint swung quickly, however he only hit air. Looking up, he saw Yuki several meters away.

"You'll have to move faster than that if you want to keep up with me," she smirked. Suddenly, the two of them were gone. The sound of swords clashing could be heard throughout the area. Then, without notice, the two of them reappeared, their swords in a deadlock. Both Jacint and Yuki leapt back and prepared their selves for their next assault. Yuki lifted her zanpakuto high into the air.

"Shimo Nami!"

Upon swinging her sword downwards came an icy wave. Jacint responded to this long range attack with one outstretched finger.

"Bala!"

The bala hit the shimo nami dead on, causing it to disperse. However, the icy chill still managed to hit Jacint.

"The hell...?!" he shouted. He found that he was having trouble moving his limbs. Yuki took this opportunity to flash step in front of Jacint and finish him off.

"Bala!"

After barely managing to stretch out two fingers, Jacint began rapidly firing bala attacks. Yuki immediately started hopping backwards in an effort to dodge them.

"What were you saying about speed again?"

Yuki spun around just in time to see Jacint in mid swing. Using her height to her advantage, Yuki ducked down, just in time to dodge the blade.

"Don't underestimate me!" she shouted while wrapping one of her legs around Jacint's leg. Jacint was unable to keep his balance and hit the ground hard. Yuki then flipped herself back onto her feet and swung down. A look of shock came across her face as Jacint grabbed the blade. Blood slowly trickled down his palm.

"You're not so bad, chibi captain, but..."

Jacint stood up while still holding onto the blade, lifting Yuki up as well.

"You're not good enough!"

Jacint hurled Yuki straight towards a far off wall. Yuki immediately flipped backwards so her feet would hit the wall. When she looked up she saw Jacint in front of her in mid swing. Jacint's zanpakuto cleaved straight through the wall like a hot knife through butter. Yuki, however, was no where in sight. Looking down at his blade, Jacint noticed blood dripping from the tip. And sure enough, Yuki stood several meters away, her left arm drenched in blood. Jacint cocked his head to the side.

"Heeeeeeeeeeh. Looks like you aren't doing so well, chibi captain. Maybe you should use that bankai thing, what d'ya say?" he taunted.

"C-captain, don't!"

Both Jacint and Yuki turned off to the side to see Hisagi, who was now able to stand up.

"Oh? You're actually able to stand?" Jacint asked in a surprised voice, "You must be one of those...whatcha call 'em...fufu...furu...ah, it doesn't matter."

Suddenly Jacint was right in front of Hisagi.

"I'm not interested in number two."

-Smack-

Hisagi was hit hard enough to be sent flying several feet.

"You bastard!" Yuki yelled, "Fine, I'll show you. I'll make you regret ever coming here!"

"Heeeeeeeeeh. I look forward to it," Jacint smiled.

"Ban...kai!" Yuki's sword changed to a more knife-like appearance, similar to Zangetsu's shikai form. The blade was split in two at the end and was covered in ice. Two large wing like pieces grew out of her back, veins of blood flowing through them. And a large icy cat-like tail grew from behind her.

"Datenshi Korihoshi."

"...I was expecting something a bit flashier but-" Jacint was cut of as Yuki was already standing before him in mid swing. Jacint barely managed to avoid the attack. In dodging the attack, however, he felt the same stiffness as before.

"Shi-"

Yuki was all over him. Jacint continuously kept on getting cut by her blade. All he could manage to do was barely dodge anything from causing critical damage. After several blows, Jacint managed a quick sonido and got away from the flurry.

"Ha...ha...guess it can't be helped..." he muttered. Jacint held his zanpakuto before himself.

"Gaze upon them, Lagar-"

Before he could finish, Yuki managed to stab him straight through the throat. Jacint looked down at her with a gaze of hatred, mouthing words that no one could hear.

"It's over..."Yuki sighed. Suddenly, Jacint grabbed hold of Yuki's zanpakuto once again. Yuki looked in shock as he slowly pulled the blade out of his neck. Yuki was then thrown once again, this time she skidded along the ground. Blood poured from the gaping wound in Jacint's throat. He then looked frantically at his hands, which had begun to glow a dull green. He then grabbed hold of his neck as if he were choking himself. Soon afterwards the flow stopped and Jacint's hands fell back to his sides. The hole in his neck was gone.

"Fuck man...that was close..." he muttered while breathing deeply, "Y'know, chibi captain...you're something else. No wonder Aedric-sama wants you powers."

"Wants our powers? You don't mean..."

"Yeah, that's right! Aedric-sama sent those hollows you al had trouble with a few months back. Personally, I thought it was a waste of time but I must admit, it sure was entertaining as hell to watch you all run around," he laughed. Despite how angry Yuki was, she was beginning to have trouble standing.

"Oh? Tired already? You should have tried harder to kill me. Ah well, I guess it's dinner time."

As Jacint drew closer, Yuki struggled to stand.

"No! I...I can't give up!" she shouted in an effort to rally herself up. However, it wasn't working.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeh. How cute. Struggle all you want, it won't do you any good. Now then..." he picked Yuki up by her neck, "Time to eat."

_Is there nothing I can do? _Yuki thought to herself. She was desperate for something, anything.

**_Heh! Guess it's my turn then!_**

Yuki's arm suddenly jolted outwards and grabbed Jacint tightly by the neck. Jacint stared in horror as her features began to change. Her hair changed from white to black and a cat-like mask formed over half her face. The mask had large fangs and red whisker-like stripes on the cheek. Her eyes also changed, the left eye was black with a red iris while the right one stayed white while the iris turned red. Her icy wings and sword began to turn black as well. As frightening as her transformation was, Jacint was more concerned with her reiatsu.

"What...the hell...are you?" he barely managed to squeeze out. Yuki responded by squeezing harder. Jacint then grabbed her hand in an attempt to get her off of him, but her grip proved to be too strong. In desperation, he kicked Yuki in the stomach, sending her back a few meters. However, she wasn't down for long and immediately dashed back towards him.

-Clash-

Once again, both of their strikes ended in a deadlock.

"**_Looks like your blade is quite brittle_**," Yuki smiled. She then cut straight through Jacint's blade with little effort. Jacint immediately jumped backwards before she could cut him. He then pointed an outstretched finger towards her.

"Bala!"

Jacint then began to rapidly fire off his bala attacks at Yuki. With a slight smirk, Yuki stabbed her sword into the ground. She then tore her sword out of the ground, forming a large ice wall. The wall took the full force of the attacks.

"**_Haaaaah!_**"

Yuki then slashed the wall, causing it to collapse. Jacint took this as his cue to be prepared for her next strike.

"**_Shimo Nami!_**" The voice came from behind him. Jacint dived out of the way of Yuki's attack. A sudden icy chill came across his arm. When he glanced at it, it was completely frozen. Quickly glancing upwards, he saw Yuki pointing at him, her hand like a makeshift gun.

"**_Bala!_**"

The attack came fast and hit Jacint's icy arm, shattering it completely. Jacint screamed in agony as he grasped his stub, blood began to quickly pour through his fingers.

"**_That's your favorite attack, right? It looked fun so I thought I'd try it out_**," Yuki laughed. She slowly began closing in on the fallen Jacint. "**_It's nice, but I prefer something with a bit more of a kick._**"

She then pointed her sword at him, a dark energy began to swirl around the points. Jacint's face fell as Yuki's grin grew wider and wider.

"**_Cer-_**"

_No! I won't let you do that!_

Yuki's other hand suddenly grabbed the mask in an attempt to remove it.

"**_The hell do you think you're doing?! I'm going to kill this guy so back off!_**"

_If you use that attack, Shuuhei and the others will die!_

The mask started to crack.

"**_D-damn you you bitch! I won't go back! I won't!!_**"

Yuki then let out an unholy scream as the mask was forcibly removed from her face. Yuki's features slowly began to normal as her bankai shattered. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Jacint kicked Yuki in the face, knocking her to the ground.

"Heh...heh...That was a close one, chibi captain...a bit too close if you ask me," Jacint breathed heavily. He then leapt onto a nearby building. Holding two outstretched fingers, he cut open another portal.

"I can see why Aedric-sama wants your powers now...Captains are a dangerous breed indeed. Although I won't have the pleasure of eating you, I'll make sure that there is one less captain to worry about."

Jacint then held his palm out towards Yuki, a dark energy began to form. As he charged his attack, the entire sky in Soul Society began to turn black.

"Goodbye, captain Hitsugaya Yuki."

Just as the cero was about to be released, a chain wrapped around Jacint's arm. His entire arm was starting to be encased in ice. And with one strong jerking motion, he was pulled into another shinigami's blade.

"Tch! Just my luck..." he sighed as he slowly turned around. He saw yet another short, white haired captain. "Really, just my luck..."

"We've already taken back all the gates and your portals are closed. Your attack failed," Hitsugaya informed Jacint.

"Heeeeeeeeeeh. You really think so?" Jacint smirked as his body began to dissipate. "I was just a scout. If I can do this much, then Aedric-sama should be able to kill you all effortlessly. Your days are numbered...shinigami..."

Jacint's body had finally vanished. After he was gone, Hitsugaya jumped off the building and ran to his sister's side.

"Yuki! Are you alright?"

"Ah...Shiro-nii...?" She said tiredly. Her bankai had drained most of her reiatsu and she was feeling dead tired.

"Hey! Pull yourself together! Yuki! Yuki!!"

Yuki could no longer hear her brother as everything went black.

* * *

Extra Notes:

Shimo Nami means 'Frost Wave'

Datenshi Korihoshi means 'Fallen Angel Icy Stars'

Also, Jacint's joke about not remembering the title 'Liutenant' was going by the Japanese title 'Fukutaicho', for those who didn't get it.


	4. Preparations

Deep within the dark recesses of Los Noches, four figures stood watching a screen. On the screen, they could see the battle between Yuki and Jacint.

"Ban...kai!"

The four watched silently as Yuki's bankai formed.

"So that's a shinigami's bankai, huh? I kinda thought it'd be flashier," one of them commented. He wore a white business suit with a gun holster on his right side. He kept his short white hair slicked back and held a cigarette between his fingers. The remains of his mask covered his right eye completely, forming an eye patch and he had a hole in the middle of his throat. While he watched he took another puff and blew the smoke directly at another arrancar.

"cough cough Watch where you blow that, will ya Xzayvion?! You're going to ruin my beautiful hair!" she screamed. This arrancar was dressed as what could simply be described as a punk girl. Unlike the other arrancar, she also wore a wide variety of colors; enough that most people who didn't know her would suspect that she was color blind. She wore a yellow sleeveless shirt with a white skirt. A single green arm warmer could be found on her right arm along with two blue leg warmers on her legs, along with her orange shoes. She wore red eye liner over her eyes, each of which was a different color; one was blue while the other was red. Her hair was red with purple streaks in it. She had a spiked pigtail on the left side of her head while the rest hung over the right side of her face. Her mask looked like half an eye mask with four bone claws hanging off the side. Her hole was just above her left leg warmer. And lastly, she had multiple piercings all over her body, even her mask.

"Heh, like there is anything to run, Tusnelda," Xzayvion laughed.

"What was that?!" she yelled as she went for her zanpakuto. Before she could pull it out completely, another arrancar grabbed her wrist.

"Aedric-sama told you to not kill anyone, remember?" he said in a deep gruff voice. This arrancar was huge, standing over 7 feet tall and was covered in muscles. He wore a white tank top with white baggy pants and white combat boots. His hair was short, black, neatly trimmed and he had a goatee. His mask looked like sideburns and his hole could be seen on his right shoulder.

"Tch! I get it, I get it Ansel," Tusnelda sighed while backing off.

"Poor little Tusnelda, can't even take a little criticism," the fourth arrancar teased. She wore a short white sleeveless dress with white stockings and black high heel shoes. She kept her long blue hair in two pigtails and had a pink heart on her right cheek. Her mask was shaped like a beret and her hole was on her chest.

"Kiauna...You wanna die?!"

"Tusnelda!" Ansel yelled.

"Tch!"

"Oh? What's this?" Xzayvion piped up. The others turned their attentions back towards the screen just in time to see Yuki's hollow transformation.

"W-what the hell is she?" Tusnelda asked in shock.

"A vizard...perhaps?"

The four turned around to see Aedric walking into the room. Ansel, Tusnelda and Kiauna immediately bowed down while Xzayvion took in another puff.

"A vizard? What's that?" he asked.

"They are similar to us, shinigami who have gained hollow powers. I hear they are quite powerful, however..." Aedric paused as Yuki began to tear off her mask." This one does not seem to be in full control of her powers."

"She almost killed Jacint, think she'll be a threat?"

"I doubt it. It'd probably be in our best interest to force her hollow out and turn her against the shinigami. Although Jacint managed to weaken the Soul Society, we've lost too much of our army to start another assault. I want you four to track down Dainora and Jaku; Txaran will stay in Soul Society and spy on the captains in the mean time." Aedric stopped. A large grin soon erupted on his face.

"In 21 days, the moon will be full. That is when the final attack will begin."

* * *

"Shiro-nii!"

"Ahhhh!"

--Crash--

Yuki suddenly sat up. She glanced around and saw that she was in a small room.

"Where...?"

"You're in the 4th division's hospital," Shinta explained while getting up off the floor." I was just about to check up on you when you suddenly woke up."

"I see...So, how long was I out?"

"Um, one week."

"A week?!" Yuki quickly began to get out of her bed.

"Whoa! Calm down! Everyone is safe and that hollow is gone."

Yuki slowly calmed down and lay back down. Shinta sighed to himself and looked over Yuki's chart.

"Um, your injuries weren't too severe and they've already healed. Captain Unohana said that you could leave when you woke up. Oh! And head captain Yamamoto wants to see you whenever possible."

Yuki nodded and began to get out of the bed again.

"Uh...Shinta..."

"Yeah?"

"Could I have some privacy?" Yuki said, pointing out the fact that she was only wearing bandages. Shinta blushed upon realizing this.

"Oh! S-s-sorry! I-I'll be out of your way now!" he shouted while quickly getting out of the room.

* * *

A little over an hour later, Yuki found herself in front of the 1st division's headquarters. After taking a deep breath, she opened the door and began walking down a long hallway. At the end of the hallway awaited head captain Yamamoto-Genryusai Shigekuni.

"I see that you have gotten my message Captain Hitsugaya," Yamamoto greeted her. As she approached him, Yamamoto spoke again. "I'll get right to the point. I wish to hear your report on the arrancar that you fought."

"Yes, head captain," Yuki composed herself. "During the attack, an arrancar by the name of Jacint attacked me. He seemed to be searching for captains to eat. I managed to fight him off and my brother finished him off."

"Yes, I had heard of that. He also told me that this arrancar called himself a scout. Did he tell you anything else?"

"Yes, he mentioned that he wanted to gain the powers of a captain and that they were behind that attack a few months back. I think he also mentioned his leader's name as well. I think it was Aedric or something."  
Yamamoto's eyes grew wide upon hearing this.

"Aedric Nat...As I thought..." he muttered to himself.

"Head captain?"

"Your brother mentioned that name as well so there can be no doubt. It seems that our new enemy is a powerful one."

"Who is this Aedric Nat?"

Yamamoto took in a deep breath and began his story.

"Several hundred years ago, a group of hollows attacked the Soul Society and retreated. A group of shinigami quickly followed them back into Hueco Mundo, however they never returned. Hours after they had departed, a small group led by myself and a few other captains made our way into Hueco Mundo to rescue them. We were quickly outnumbered and with each hollow we killed, more would take their place. That's when he appeared. He was a vasto lorde class menos who called himself Aedric Nat. He seemed particularly interested in me and so we fought."

Yamamoto paused for a moment and pointed at his forehead.

"He was the one who gave me this cross-shaped scar. The two of us fought for what seemed like hours, however we both ended up in a draw; the two of us were unable to continue. As we were each taken away by our respective sides, he swore that we would fight again. I do not know what his full plans are, but I have reason to believe that he will not stop with the Soul Society. Captain Hitsugaya Yuki!"  
"Yes sir?"

"You have had plenty of experience in the human world and you have your own apartment there. I am sending you plus a few non-captain ranked shinigami of your choice to the human world. I want you to inform Kurosaki Ichigo of the situation and stand by for further orders. Do you understand?"

"Yes, of course."

"Very good. I want you to start on your preparations immediately; we have no idea of where and when Aedric may strike next."

"Yes sir," Yuki said one last time before taking off. Once she was gone, Yamamoto looked up towards the ceiling.

"It seems that our final battle is upon us Aedric. I hope for your sake that you are prepared."

* * *

Moments later Yuki was back inside of the 4th division's hospital. After walking through a few hallways she arrived at Hisagi's room.

"Huh? Oh, hey captain! I see you're finally up," Hisagi greeted her.

"Yeah, listen. I've been assigned to the human world. I want you to come with me and--" she stopped. Hisagi had several bandages covering his chest and had a sling over his left arm. After a period of silence, Hisagi spoke up.

"It's not as bad as it looks. Just a few broken ribs and a broken arm, that's all. I'll be better in no time."

"I see. Well, I was going to take you to the human world with me but..."

"Heh, don't worry. Give me a few weeks and I'll join you then. I promise."

"Okay. I'll see you later then."

As Yuki turned to leave, she bumped into Unohana and Shinta.

"Oh, Captain Hitsugaya. I see you came to visit Hisagi-san," Unohana greeted.

"Yeah, I was just about to leave."

"Please wait a moment. Murakami-san, please take care of the patient."

"Yes captain."

Both Yuki and Unohana watched as Shinta walked over to Hisagi.

"Now then, I heard that you were looking of recruits to take with you to the human world. Have you already decided on whom to take with you?"

"I have a few ideas but nothing concrete yet."

"Then I have a suggestion, why don't you take Murakami-san with you."

"...Um, no offence or anything but we could use someone who is better at healing..."

"Point taken, but that's not the reason. Do you remember when that arrancar tried to use cero on you?"

Yuki thought back to her battle; however her mind was a bit foggy after her hollow transformation.

"That cero was so powerful that the sky in Soul Society turned completely black. I'd hate to imagine what would have happened had it hit the ground. If the arrancar are to appear in the human world, then Shinta's zanpakuto will come in handy."

"His zanpakuto? You mean that short double-edged blade?"

"Its true form is a shield," Unohana explained," Its true form is made up of about 20 of those blades. It's power is that it can completely nullify any type of spiritual attack."

"Really?! Then why does he only swing around one of those blades?"

"Because he's stubborn," Unohana laughed.

"...Oops!" Shinta suddenly said.

"Oops? What does that mean? Ahh! I'm bleeding! What the hell did you do?!"

"I-I'm sorry!"

Yuki sighed deeply.

"Fine...I'll take him with me..."

"You won't regret it."

Unohana then turned back towards Shinta.

"Murakami-san, I'll take over from here."

"Oh, sorry captain..."

"Don't worry about it. Captain Hitsugaya just agreed to take you to the human world to battle the arrancar."

"R-really?!" Shinta sounded excited.

"Yeah, c'mon Shinta, we still have a lot to do."

As Yuki and Shinta began to leave the room, Shinta suddenly stopped as he stared at Yuki.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"It's just...I forgot how short you are."

--Twitch--

--Smack--

"Ow!"

Yuki suddenly punched Shinta in the stomach.

"Hurry up if you don't want to be left behind," Yuki said angrily as she left the room.

"Heh, she got you good."

"Murakami-san, you're not very good with women, are you?"

Shinta ignored his captain and Hisagi as he stumbled after Yuki.


	5. A Short Break

When the door was opened, the shinigami were greeted by an extremely comfortable apartment. A large amount of furniture, games, a huge TV and all the cooking supplies you could ever need.

"Heh, looks like Soul Society went all out on this place," Renji commented. Renji was one of the first people Yuki looked for after she had been assigned to this mission. She knew him fairly well, plus he had previous experience in the human world.

"It's amazing! I can't believe that we're staying here," Matsumoto piped up. Unlike Renji, Matsumoto seeked out Yuki. Hitsugaya had no problems with it, just so long as Yuki watched after her.

"I guess we'll have to celebrate!" she added while pulling out a bottle of sake. The other three groaned upon hearing this.

"We should change into our gigai. We can met Ichigo at the school and inform him of the situation," Yuki said, already walking towards her room. Shortly afterwards, everyone was in their gigai wearing the summer school uniforms. Shinta immediately noticed that Yuki was quite a bit taller in her gigai, just slightly taller than Orihime.

"What the..." he started.

"I had Kurotsuchi-san make it for me," she explained.

"I-I see..."

Shinta didn't know Kurotsuchi very well. In fact, he tried to avoid him whenever possible since he creeped him out.

"We should get going now," Yuki stated. Everyone began to walk out of the apartment when Shinta suddenly stopped.

"Huh...You're still shorter than me..." he commented to himself.

-Twitch-

-Smack-

"Ow!"

Shinta fell to the ground from the force of Yuki's punch.

"Fine, you can stay here! Let's go," Yuki said to the others, sounding annoyed.

* * *

Ichigo gazed lazily out the school window. After the captain hunting hollows had attacked, the hollow activity within Karakura had dropped significantly. It gave him an uneasy feeling, as if something terrible could happen at any moment.

"Banzai! The valley of the goddess has returned!" Keigo suddenly shouted.

-Smack-

-Crash-

Keigo was then suddenly sent into a wall. Responding to the noise, Ichigo looked up.

"Huh? What are you three doing here?" he asked.

"See, I told you guys this was the right one," Yuki said as the three of them walked towards Ichigo's desk. "There's a situation going on and we've been sent here as a precaution."

"A situation?"

"Yeah, Soul Society was-"

"Alright, alright! Everyone into your seats!" Ochi-sensei shouted, "Hm? Back from the hospital, Hitsugaya?"

"Ah, yeah. I was...really sick."

"Alright, if you say so. Now take your seat."

Yuki quickly glanced back at Ichigo.

"We'll talk on the rooftop at lunch," she said as she walked towards her desk.

"Well, I guess we'll be leaving then," Matsumoto said as she and Renji began leaving class.

"Hold it! Where do you two think you're going?" Ochi-sensei glared at them.

"U-um, bathroom?" Renji said.

-Smack-

Renji suddenly received a book to the face.

"Nice try. Now, take your seats."

Defeated, Renji and Matsumoto slowly walked to two empty desks.

* * *

Meanwhile, Shinta wandered around Yuki's apartment. He hadn't seen much of the human world so almost everything inside was new to him. Feeling a little hungry, Shinta opened up the refrigerator.

"Hm? What's this?"

Shinta pulled out a juice box. He looked it over but couldn't figure out how to open it.

"Maybe I need to use something else..."

Shinta then glanced around the room to find something to use. That's when he noticed the microwave. He had no idea what it was, but he thought it was worth a try. After placing the juice in the microwave he pressed some random buttons and stepped back.

"Huh...I wonder how long I-" Shinta suddenly stopped as the box in the microwave exploded.

"Huh?! What the?!"

Shinta then grabbed a cloth and began to wipe up his mess.

"I guess...that wasn't right."

Grabbing another box, Shinta lifted it above his head and began to examine it.

"Maybe I need to put a hole right here..."

He then unsheathed Kurohana and poked a hole into it. Since it was still above his head, the juice just poured down onto him.

"Dammit!" he cursed as he pulled out yet another box. Looking over the box again he then noticed the straw.

"Oh...Maybe I'm supposed to use this..."

He then yanked the straw off the box and began tearing at it plastic prison.

"Gah! Why do humans have to make things so complicated?!" he shouted as he finally tore the plastic off and jammed the straw into the box.

"There...finally. I guess that takes care of the drink," he muttered to himself as he took a drink.

"Ugh! I hate grape..."

* * *

Once lunch came by Ichigo, Orihime, Ishida and Chad walked up to the roof to meet with the others.

"So, what's going on?" Ichigo asked, getting straight to the point.

"Last week, Soul Society was attacked by an army of hollows lead by an arrancar. Soul Society is currently in high alert and we are expecting that this is not the last attack," Yuki explained.

"Arrancar? Is Aizen...?" Orihime started. Renji shook his head.

"His body is still missing so we can't confirm it, but it seems that someone else is behind this," he said.

"That's right. Head captain Yamamoto told me that the one behind this attack is a vasto lorde class menos who calls himself Aedric Nat."

"Vasto...lorde...?" Ichigo remembered back when Hitsugaya first explained about the different types of menos.

_"The strength of a single vasto lorde...is above that of any captain!"_

"...Is there anything else?" he asked.

"Yes, apparently this Aedric was behind those captain hunting hollows from a few months ago. Also, head captain Yamamoto also believes that Aedric may be after something in the human world. It's possible that he may be in possession of the hogyoku as well..."

"I see..." Ichigo said, the full gravity of the situation dawning upon him, "So, what do we do?"

"We wait, for now. Attacking Hueco Mundo is suicidal at this point so we have no choice but to wait for them to make the first move."

"But that's..."

"Heh, don't worry. We're already prepared for them. They won't catch us off guard again," Yuki smiled.

* * *

Back at the apartment, Shinta was frantically cleaning. His exploits at cooking were...not very successful. He had just finished scrubbing the walls just a while ago and was now working on the floor. He hoped he would be done before Yuki and the others arrived, but knowing his luck...

-Creak-

"What the?!"

"Oh, crap..." Shinta slowly turned around to see a very angry Yuki.

"Shiiiiiiiiiiintaaaaaaaaaa!"

"Y-Y-Yuki! I c-can explain!"

"It was nice knowing you!" Matsumoto chimed in.

"Ah! You're not helping!"

Yuki slowly continued to close in on Shinta.

"C-come on! At least I'm cleaning it up! Please don't hit me!"

Yuki stopped right in front of Shinta and put her hand on his shoulder.

"...Well, I guess you have a point," she sighed.

"Oh! Thank you Yu-"

-SMACK-

The force of Yuki's kick sent Shinta straight to the floor.

"Just don't do it again," she said with an irritated smile.

* * *

A while later, the four of them arrived at the chamber beneath Urahara's shop for training. Before they arrived at the apartment, Yuki asked Urahara if they could train there. He agreed, just so long as he didn't have to oversee their training. Shinta watched silently as Yuki and Matsumoto sparred.

"Hey, Shinta. Let's spar," Renji stood up, unsheathing his zanpakuto. Shinta followed suit and stepped a few feet away from him.

"I'll go easy on ya since we'll need you for healing later."

"Heh, don't underestimate me just because I'm from 4th."

And thus their match began. The two of them continuously traded blows with each other, neither one seemed to have the upper hand. Shinta quickly went for another blow towards Renji's chest, who began to counter with a parry. Just before the blades met, Shinta dropped Kurohana and grabbed it with his left arm and swung. Renji jumped backwards as soon as he noticed this and barely missed the attack. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that Shinta managed to cut one of his sleeves.

"Heh, you're pretty fast and you got a unique style. Pretty impressive," he complemented, "I think it's time to step it up a bit. Howl, Zabimaru!"

As Renji's zanpakuto changed, Shinta followed suit.

"Blossom, Kurohana!"

Once again, Shinta's zanpakuto transformed into a single curved blade. Upon seeing this, Yuki stopped practicing with Matsumoto.

"Hey, Shinta! Shouldn't you be practicing with your zanpakuto's true form?" she asked.

"It's true form? That's thing isn't very useful in close combat. I'm fine the way it is now."

"That's nyot very nyice-nya..." a nearby voice commented.

"Shut up..." Shinta grumbled.

Renji started up the next attack from a distance with Zabimaru. Shinta managed to dodge the first strike by rolling off to the side, yet another attack came as quickly as the first. Without any other options, Shinta tried to parry it by placing both his hands on the edges of Kurohana. Both his hands began bleed from its sharp edges. However, Shinta was unable to properly block the attack and so he was flung to the side. After sliding along the ground, Shinta flipped back up onto his feet, ready to face Renji's next attack.

"Okay...If one won't do it..." Shinta muttered to himself. Suddenly, a second blade identical to the first appeared in Shinta's other hand.

"Two blades? I didn't know he could do that," Renji commented.

"I guess he can summon those other blades when he needs them," Yuki said.

"Alright, Abarai! Here I come!" Shinta shouted as he began to run towards Renji.

"Nyo! You're doing it wrong-nya!" a voice shouted.

Shinta then tripped over something and fell to the ground face first.

"Ugh! What was that for?!" Shinta shouted.

Off to the side of him stood a strange creature. She stood at roughly 3 feet tall and wore a black hooded robe. A black tail poked out of the back and two furry paws could be seen poking out of the sleeves. A large shadow covered most of her face; the most you could see was her cat-like mouth. This creature was Kurohana, the spirit of Shinta's zanpakuto.

"Your opponent is fighting at long range-nya. All you have to do is make more blades and fire them off at him-nya, Kurohana explained. Shinta just gave her an annoyed look.

"...I don't like fighting long range. I'll just try to get in close and-"

"Wrong answer! Neko Punch!!"

"Augh!!"

The Neko Punch hit Shinta straight in the jaw, setting him back a little.

"Wrong! Just because _you _like to fight close up doesn't mean you always should. Besides, in combat, I'm supposed to be used as a long range projectile, not a sword that cuts your hands up-nya."

"I'm doing fine! Who cares what you think?"

"N-nyo way!" Kurohana cried. She then kneeled down and looked towards the sky. "Father! Mother! I have failed my duty to you-nya! Shinta-chan still won't listen to me..."

"What are you blabbering about?! You don't know my parents! And what's with this 'Shinta-chan' business?!"

On the other side of the battlefield, the other three shinigami stared dumbfounded.

"Uh...Who's he talking to?" Renji asked.

"You think the stress finally got to him?" Matsumoto added.

"Who knows? But I'd rather not get involved," Yuki shook her head.

"Ow! You bit me! What was that for?!"

"Father! Mother!"

"Cut it out!"

* * *

"_**Yuuuuuuukiiiiiii-chaaaaaan.**_"

"Who's there?!" Yuki called out. She paused for a moment. All around her was a vast frozen wasteland. She had no idea as to how she got here, but...

"_**I'm over here, Yuki-chan,**_" the voice beckoned. Yuki turned towards the direction from where the voice originated to see a large wall of ice. As she approached it, her reflection began to show. Yet as she grew closer, the reflection began to change. Black hair, red eyes, and an inverted shihakusho; it was the one thing she feared the most.

"_**We meet again, Yuki-chan,**_" the reflection greeted her.

"You...who...what are you?" Yuki asked. The reflection cocked her head and pointed straight at Yuki.

"_**I'm you, the final result of Aizen's experiment,**_" she smiled.

"...Go away...I don't need you..." Yuki's stated, her voice trembling.

"_**Awwww, c'mon. I bet we could be good friends if we get to know each other. All you have to do is set me free.**_"

"Shut up! I don't need you!"

The other Yuki chuckled softly upon hearing this.

"_**Oh, but Yuki-chan, if it weren't for me, you'd be dead long ago.**_"

Yuki was at a lost for words. As much as she wanted to deny it, her other self was telling the truth.

"If that's the case...I'd rather die than let you out!" she shouted.

"_**...You're so stubborn Yuki-chan. But...that's what I like about you. It just makes breaking you that much more fun!**_" the other Yuki giggled.

Suddenly the scenery changed. The stench of blood quickly filled Yuki's nostrils. She gazed in horror as everyone she ever know or cared about was lying on the ground in a pool of their own blood.

"_**This is your future, Yuki-chan. Like it or not, I'm coming out. And when I do, we are going to have a lot of fun together.**_"

"No..."

Yuki took a step back. Her hands were covered in blood. Her shihakusho slowly began to turn white as her hair turned black at the roots. Suddenly, the other Yuki was standing beside her.

"_**I'm very close to you now, Yuki-chan. Struggle al you want, it only makes it more fun for me,**_" She whispered into Yuki's ear.

"No! NO!!"

* * *

"NO!!"

Yuki awoke in a cold sweat. Looking around at her surroundings, she saw that she was in her bed at the apartment.

"It was only a dream..." she sighed in relief. _Or was it..._

Yuki felt terribly uneasy so she decided to take a walk to clear her mind. Upon entering the living room, she saw Shinta sitting by the window, gazing up at the moonless sky.

"You're still awake?" she asked him. Her sudden speaking startled Shinta, enough so that he almost fell out his chair.

"Yuki! Um, you couldn't fall asleep either?"

"Eh? Uh, no. I just...wanted to get a drink, that's all," she lied. She would prefer not to get anyone else involved in her problem. However, she didn't want to end her conversation there. She had to take her mind off of her nightmare.

"So...Shinta. What are your goals for the future?" she asked while walking towards him.

"My goals? Why would you want to know to know that?"

"Just curious. So, you want to become a better medic? A lieutenant? Maybe even a captain someday?"

"Not really...Those things don't really interest me that much."

"Really? Now that's surprising."

"How so?"

"Well...most shinigami I know dream about one day leading their own division. If you learn to use your zanpakuto better, maybe one day you could be a captain too."

"I'm...really not interested in that. Besides, I'm fine with the way I use Kurohana anyways. My way has done well so far."

"...Heh, captain Unohana was right, you really are stubborn," Yuki laughed.

"...Yeah, that sounds like Retsu-ne..." Shinta muttered to himself.

"Huh? Retsu-ne?"

"I-it's nothing. She's like a big sister to me, that's all," Shinta stammered. Yuki laughed slightly.

"So, what are your goals then?" she asked once more. Shinta suddenly grew silent and turned away. It looked like he didn't want to talk about it.

"Um, it's okay. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"...Vengeance," Shinta said silently.

"Huh?"

"I'm...looking for a hollow called 'The Puppet Master'."

Yuki was taken back a bit. She recognized the name. The Puppet Master was infamous for taking control of humans and spirits like puppets and using them as meat shields against any shinigami that came after it. This hollow had remained at large for at least 300 years.

"So, you want to kill it and avenge your comrades?" Yuki asked. Shinta just shook his head.

"More like avenge myself," Shinta turned his head back towards Yuki, "It's the reason why I died in the first place."

Yuki stared in disbelief. It was very rare for a shinigami to remember their past lives.

"It...killed you?"

"Yeah, the image has been burned into my mind so I wouldn't forget. It took control over several people who attacked me for no reason. As I was beaten on, I could hear a strange voice. When it got bored of me, it sent me to some strange white room," Shinta began to clench his fists tightly, "It laughed as the walls slowly closed in on me. I was crushed to death. The next thing I knew, I was in Soul Society, in the middle of the Seireitei of all places. I was horribly injured so the 4th division came to my aid immediately."

Shinta paused and looked up towards the ceiling.

"Retsu-ne...saved me that day. She was even nice enough to let me stay with her for the time being. Heh...I can never repay her for what she did for me. Afterwards, I swore that I would become a shinigami so that I could hunt it down."

Shinta began to walk away.

"The reason I use my zanpakuto at close range in so that I can kill it while it's directly in front of me. I want it to gaze up at me while it dies, and recognize that I was one of those whom it killed."

As Shinta walked away, Yuki said the first thing that came to her mind.

"I'll help you!"

"Huh? What?" Shinta asked in disbelief.

"That's right. After this is all over, I'll help you find The Puppet Master. After all, that's what friends are for, right?" she smiled.

"Sure! Of course!" Shinta nodded. Afterwards, Shinta decided to finally go to sleep. As he left the room, Yuki gazed out the window and into the moonless sky.


	6. Under the Crimson Air

"Haaaaah!"

With one quick slash, the hollow was defeated. With another quick motion, Ichigo placed Zangetsu onto his back.

-Click-

"Amazing! That's a new record," Rukia commented as she looked at her stopwatch.

"Wait...You're timing me now?"

"Why not? It'd be a nice method of training for you. You can try and beat your record at killing hollows."

"...You and your ideas," Ichigo sighed.

"What's wrong with it?"

"It's weird, that's all."

"Huh? I think it's a great idea."

"That's right! You're just jealous that you didn't come up with it," Kon chimed in. The two of them stared at the doll that just popped out of Rukia's backpack.

"Uh...When did you get in there?" she asked.

"That's beside the point. But I'll tell ya, it wasn't easy. You see-"

"Anyways, I don't think that it's much of a training method since that was the first hollow to appear in weeks," Ichigo explained while completely ignoring Kon's presence.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!"

"That's true...Maybe it has something to do with Aedric," Rukia pondered, also while ignoring Kon.

"N-ne-san...Not you too!" Kon cried.

"Shut up!" the two suddenly shouted. Kon slowly sinked his way back into the backpack.

"A vasto lorde...What are they like?"

Rukia shook her head.

"I'm not sure. There are so few of them that there is barely any information on them. Save for the head captain, no one has ever survived an encounter with one."

"I see...So they really are stronger than a captain..."

"I'm afraid so. And if he really does have the hogyoku..." Rukia trailed off. As they talked about the situation, things seemed to get worse and worse. After a moment of silence, Ichigo spoke up again.

"We'll win."

"Huh?"

"Even if everything is stacked up against us, we will win. Who cares if they're stronger than a captain? That just means we have to become stronger too. We've survived Aizen, the unnumbereds and the captain hunting hollows. I don't care how strong this Aedric guy is, we will defeat him."

"Ichigo...You're right! We can't lose!"

"Yeah. Besides, Yuki and the others said that they have a plan. We'll be ready for them when they arrive."

* * *

Meanwhile at Yuki's apartment, Yuki gazed heavily at the cards in Matsumoto's hand. She had two cards left in her hand so it was a 50/50 chance. Yuki slowly reached towards the card on the left. Matsumoto gave a slight smirk. Upon noticing this, Yuki immediately grabbed the card on the right.

"Nice try, Yuki," Matsumoto laughed. Yuki then glanced at the card, it was the old maid.

"Argh! Not again!" she yelled as she threw the card onto the floor.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"It's just...We've been stuck here for five days doing nothing but training and playing cards. I just want to go out and do something else for a change."

"Gotta admit, she is right," Renji said.

"I'd...like to try one of those hamburger things," Shinta added.

"Yes! That sounds good! We could just go to WcDonalds and get ourselves a Big Wac," Yuki said excitedly. The three of them then got up and headed to the door, leaving Matsumoto behind.

"Hey! Wait for me!" she called as she ran out the door.

* * *

The sky was dyed a bright crimson as the sun began to set in Soul Society. High atop the senzaikyu stood five figures. Among them was Ansel, Kiauna, Tusnelda and two others. One was dressed as a typical shinobi with his mask covering from his chin to his eyes. The other was a small boy wearing a school boy's outfit. He had short brown hair and a huge axe twice his size strapped on his back. His mask covered his lower jaw and his hole was on his right leg.

"I'm surprised, Txaran. I didn't think we could break through the Seireitei without going through the gates," Kiauna said.

"Hmph, it wasn't that difficult. This barrier of theirs isn't as fool proof as they think it is," the ninja called Txaran explained.

"At least you're useful for something..." Tusnelda muttered.

"Hm? Is something wrong, Tusnelda-chan?" the boy asked. Tusnelda turned towards him with a look of disgust.

"I thought I told you to knock it off with that 'Tusnelda-chan' crap, Jaku."

"Oh what? Does it offend you Tusnelda-chan," he teased.

"...That's it! You're dead!"

Before she could strike Jaku, Ansel grabbed her hand.

"Tusnelda...Remember what Aedric-sama said," Ansel warned her.

"Tch! Yeah, I know, I know!" she said as she removed her hand, "Y'know what? Screw you guys. We came here to kill shinigami, so that's what I'm going to do!"

And with that, Tusnelda leapt into the Seireitei.

"Heh. Tusnelda is angry," Kiauna sang.

"Ansel-kun, there was no need to stop her you know," Jaku said.

"I know, I just did what was best for her own safety, senpai," Ansel explained.

"Heh, you flatter me Ansel-kun. I'm not that strong," he laughed.

"Soooooo...We ready now?" Kiauna asked. The others nodded.

"Our mission is to throw the Soul Society into disarray. 'Catch them off-guard and kill as many as you can', those are Aedric-sama's orders. If we run into trouble, we are to return to Hueco Mundo immediately," Txaran explained. After their orders were given, the arrancar leapt into the city.

* * *

Under a similar sky in the human world, two figures walked through the streets of Karakura. The two of them ignored the citizens they passed as they couldn't see them anyway. The first figure was Xzayvion, of who was smoking a cigarette as per usual. The second figure was a beautiful woman wearing a white yukata with a black rose coiling down it. Her blonde hair was tied up in a bun. On the upper left part of her face, just above her eye, was her mask. The broken mask went all the way up to her hairline and had three holes punched in it. Behind her, two blades could be seen concealed in her obi. She glanced over at Xzayvion.

"Why do you smoke anyways? It's a bad habit," she commented.

"I could ask you the same about you and your weird blood drinking fetish, but I don't," he responded while flicking away his cigarette. Ignoring his comment, she continued.

"According to Txaran, Soul Society sent a small group of shinigami her to defend this city. He also stated that there are a number of captain level shinigami living here as well."

"And the one leading the group is that captain that fought Jacint, right?"

"So he says."

"Alright then, let's split up. It doesn't matter who we bump into, we should each be able to take care of ourselves. And, no offense, but you're a real bore to be around," Xzayvion said as he began to walk off.

"Hey! Don't play with them. Finish them off as quickly as possible so we can get this mission done and over with!"

"Ha! That's what I'm talking about, Dainora. You really don't know when to relax now do you?" he laughed as he disappeared into the crowd.

"...That cockiness of yours will be your end, Xzayvion," she muttered.

* * *

Atop a building within the Seireitei, Txaran glanced down at the streets. Unlike the other arrancar, he wasn't good at fighting. His specialties were in surveillance and one shot kills. He flipped around a kunai-like barb into the air while he waited for his prey. Soon enough, someone did come. A captain of all things. If he could kill a captain, then Aedric would be most pleased. This captain had spiky hair and wore an eye patch. Txaran remembered that this one was very dangerous. Just as the captain ran by he threw his kunai, aiming straight for the jugular. As the dart pierced the captain's neck, he fell to the ground. One shot, that's all it took. Txaran grinned at accomplishment, he had managed to kill a captain, and so easily too.

"What the hell was that?"

Txaran immediately glanced back down. The captain was already back on his feet and had pulled out the kunai.

"Ken-chan, are you okay?" Yachiru asked, peering over Kenpachi's shoulder. Kenpachi tossed the kunai onto the ground and looked around.

"It looks like we found someone," he answered with a large grin.

Txaran hid himself behind a pillar, hoping that Kenpachi wouldn't see him. He waited silently for an opening while Kenpachi and Yachiru talked.

"Over there! I see him!" she suddenly shouted. Txaran braced himself, only to see Kenpachi leap onto another building.

"Where? Where is he?!"

"Hm? I thought I saw him...Maybe over there?"

Txaran dashed from his pillar and threw another kunai at Kenpachi's neck. Before it could hit, Kenpatchi smacked it away and turned towards him.

"There you are!"

Txaran leapt a few feet back as Kenpachi landed onto his building.

"You're one of those arrancar, aren't ya? I was pissed off that I missed you guys last time. Now, fight me! I hope for your sake that you're strong!"

"Dammit..." Txaran cursed. He knew that there was no way he could defeat this captain in a one on one fight. He had to escape and try attacking him from the shadows again. Creating several more kunai, Txaran threw as many as he could at Kenpachi. As Kenpachi began to deflect a few of the barbs, Txaran began to run away, confidant that Kenpachi wouldn't be able to keep up with his speed.

"Ah! He's getting away!" Yachiru cried out.

"Heh! He won't get away!" Kenpachi shouted as he made haste.

* * *

The bodies of several shinigami lie strewn across the ground. Blood was splattered across the ground and walls. And in the middle of it all stood Tusnelda. She was covered almost completely in the blood of her foes; her hair now dyed a deep crimson.

"See. This is what happens when you mock beautiful people," she giggled as she began stomping on the skulls of the corpses around her. Once she was bored she began to walk away. As she reached a t-intersection, two more shinigami appeared. Without thinking, she unsheathed her zanpakuto and slashed at them. Both of the shinigami parried her attack and pushed her back. Surprised, she glanced up at them. It was Yumichika and Ikkaku.

"Tch! You're not even captains..." she said in disgust. She readied her blade for another attack when she suddenly stopped. Holding herself back, she stared at Yumichika.

"You! What's your name?" she demanded.

Taken slightly back by her sudden demand, he answered her.

"Well, if you must know, I am 11th division, 5th seat, Ayasegawa Yumichika."

"Ayasegawa...Yumichika..." Tusnelda mouthed. A large grin appeared across her face.

"A beautiful name for a beautiful person. I am Tusnelda Faraye; I am pleased to meet you."

Both Yumichika and Ikkaku started in shock at what she just said.

"M-my, you have good taste...Tusnelda, is it?"

"Mm, as a beautiful one, I'm sure you understand the annoyances of the ugly ones and their constant jealousy of our looks. It just makes you want to tear them to pieces for their ignorance, don't you agree?"

"I guess so...But you can't blame them for wanting to be like us."

"Hm...I never thought about it that way."

Ikkaku stood back as the two continued their conversation.

"What have I just walked into..." he groaned.

"It's such a shame that we are enemies...We could have been so good together," she lamented.

"Ah...right...But you know, you could use a few changes in your wardrobe."

"...Excuse me?"

"Your color synchronization is way off. You have absolutely no style and-"

Suddenly Tusnelda swung her blade towards Yumichika's head. He barely managed to parry the attack. The two stood in a deadlock.

"Tch! I was a fool to think you'd understand true beauty! You're just like all the others, ugly one!"

"U-ugly?!"

The two of them separated and started each other down.

"Ikkaku! She's mine!"

"Fine, I'll just hang back then," Ikkaku said, already making himself comfortable.

"No one calls me ugly! Bloom, Fuji Kujaku!"

The two glared at each other as they prepared for the next attack.

* * *

Meanwhile in Karakura, Ichigo and Rukia walked through the city. As they crossed the street they saw an unusual sight. A beautiful woman wearing a white yukata leaned against a building. As they drew closer to her, she turned towards their direction. That's when they saw her broken mask.

"Ichigo! That's-"

"Yeah, I know."

It was too soon. The arrancar arrived in the human world far sooner than they had expected. They were not prepared.

"You're both shinigami, aren't you?" she asked them. The streets were still crowded with people. If a battle took place here...

"Dainora," she greeted them while outstretching her hand, "Dainora Ooret. Now die."

It happened too quickly. Before Ichigo knew it, Rukia had pushed him to the ground. Glancing upwards he saw a silver thread extending from one of her fingers and attaching itself onto a nearby light pole. Fresh blood dripped from a cut above his right eye.

"W-what the-" Ichigo started.

"...You were lucky, but I'm not about to give you a break."

Suddenly Dainora was in front of Ichigo, ready to strike him down.

-Clash-

Rukia parried the attack, having already transformed into her shinigami state.

"Ichigo! Hurry up!" she shouted as she struggled to hold back Dainora's attack.

"R-right!"

Ichigo immediately grabbed Rukia's backpack and pulled Kon out of it.

"Ah! What are you doing?!" Kon demanded.

"Just shut up and help me!"

Ichigo shoved his hand down Kon's throat, pulled out the soul candy, and ate it. After transforming he swung his zanpakuto at Dainora. Before he could strike her, Dainora leapt several feet backwards.

"Kon! Take my body and get out of here," Ichigo demanded.

"But Ichigo-"

"Now!"

"Alright, alright. You don't have to tell me twice."

Dainora watched as Kon ran off.

"I wanted to be done with you all by now..." she sighed to herself, "Fine, if you don't want to die easily I'll just have to kick things up a notch!"

And with that, Dainora drew the two blades from her obi.

"Five minutes. You won't last longer than that."

* * *

"Captain! Captain!"

A lone shinigami ran towards the 7th division headquarters to report to his captain. After hearing his shouting, Komamura walked up to him.

"Captain! An arrancar is on his way! He's insanely strong! He just took out my unit with-GAH!"

Suddenly a large axe crashed straight through the wall and cleaved through the shinigami. Komamura watched in horror as his subordinate died before him.

"Ugh! Why won't you come out?!" a child-like voice shouted. Komamura turned towards the axe to see a small child trying to tug it out of the ground. Upon noticing his broken mask he immediately drew his blade.

"So, you're the arrancar he warned me about," he said in anger.

Jaku turned around and looked at Komamura.

"Woooooooow. You look so cool...and you're a captain! Lucky me!" Jaku said with glee. He then outstretched his hand.

"My name is Jaku Weiss. What's yours, mister?"

Komamura glared at Jaku. Realizing that he wasn't going to shake his hand, Jaku shook his head.

"Y'know, you could be a little more polite. As I always say-"

"Silence!"

Komamura swung his zanpakuto at Jaku but caught nothing but air.

"Jeez, you really are a rude one, aren't you?"

Komamura turned around; Jaku was several meters behind him.

"What the...How can one as young as you be so powerful..?" he asked in shock. Jaku just laughed at his question.

"Young? Believe it or not, I'm actually much older than I look. Truth be told, I'm older than any of my comrades," Jaku explained.

Komamura took a deep breath; he felt that this child-like creature may very well be the strongest of the ones currently attacking the Seireitei. He had to be careful.

"7th division captain, Komamura Sajin."

"Ah, nice to meet you. Hmm...I think I'll be polite and call you Komamura-san," Jaku said happily. As he said this, he walked back towards his axe and pulled it out of the ground.

"I'm sorry Komamura-san, but I'm going to have to kill you now. Aedric-kun makes the rules and I'm not going to question him. If you wanna survive, I'd suggest you release your sword or use bankai."

Komamura responded by swinging his sword.

"Roar, Tenken!"

A large armored arm carrying a sword appeared and copied Komamura's movements, the blade aiming for Jaku. Jaku moved his axe slightly off to his side and parried Komamura's attack, stopping it completely with barely any effort.

"You're pretty strong, but I'm not sure if you're ready for someone on my level," Jaku stated. After fending off the attack, he slowly ran up to Komamura and swung his axe. Komamura slashed downwards in an effort to parry it.

-Clash-

Komamura pushed all his weight onto this attack for if he didn't, he would have been thrown into the air.

"Heh, you really are strong Komamura-san. You're the third person to have ever stopped my first attack. I can tell that this is going to be really fun!"

* * *

Txaran breathed heavily as he hid. He glanced down at Kenpachi. He was covered in wounds, yet seemed perfectly fine. Txaran couldn't understand it.

_What the hell is he?! Why won't he die?!_ he thought to himself.

As Txaran prepared himself for another attack, he noticed another figure walking towards Kenpatchi. It was Ansel.

"Well, well. Not one, but two arrancar. This really is my lucky day," Kenpatchi said happily.

"You are...Zaraki Kenpachi, are you not?" Ansel asked.

"You know my name?"

"Of course. The name 'Kenpachi' is given to the strongest of shinigami. I make it a habit of mine to find out who the current Kenpachi is. My name is Ansel Moretanst," he introduced himself. He paused for a moment before he spoke again.

"You spoke of another arrancar. Where is he now?"

"Hell if I know. The coward is hiding somewhere around here. Not that I care, if he attacks while my guard is down while fighting you, it'll just make things that much more fun."

"Txaran...I apologize for his behavior; he is only good for surveillance and nothing else. I will meet your expectations and fight you."

The two combatants readied their selves for battle and Txaran watched carefully for another opening.

* * *

"Argh!"

Kiauna's sword sang as it cut down another shinigami. Eight bodies lay at her feet. There was only one left, of who was petrified with fear. Kiauna smiled as she slowly walked towards him.

"So, you're the last one. I was thinking about killing you...but I changed my mind."

She stopped in front of him. Before he could react, she gave him a loving kiss. She smiled as she pulled away.

"Bye bye, cutie," she giggled as she walked away.

The shinigami fell to the ground and sighed in relief. That's when he noticed something odd. He couldn't feel anything, in fact he couldn't move at all. As his blood began to literally boil he tried to scream, yet no sound came out. Kiauna couldn't help but laugh as she thought about his horrible fate.

* * *

Back in Karakura, the four shinigami walked back to the apartment. Yuki walked with a satisfied smile on her face. Out of the four, she ate the most, easily twice the amount as the other three combined. However, the other three, especially Shinta, knew that they shouldn't bring it up. Suddenly, Yuki's cell phone began to ring. As she looked at the message, a look of shock slowly came over her.

"W-what the?!"

"What's wrong?" Renji asked.

"Several arrancar broke into Soul Society! We have to go back and help them!"

"Whoa! Can't let you do that, chibi captain."

The four of them turned towards the voice to see Xzayvion walk out of the darkness.

"They're here too?! But...I didn't feel anything until just now..."

"Hmm...Four on one doesn't seem fair...Well, I guess it's a good think I brought a few friends with me."

Xzayvion snapped his fingers and several humans walked out. Each of them seemed like a living corpse.

"Oh! Wait a second!"

Xzayvion quickly checked the pockets on each of the humans. On the fourth one he found a pack of cigarettes. After lighting one up, he inhaled deeply.

"Yeah. Now that's the stuff. You guys better ready yourselves if you don't want to die."

Yuki and the others quickly ate a piece of soul candy and returned to their shinigami forms. Each of their gigais ran off to a safe distance. As the four of them prepared for battle, Shinta fell to his knees.

"Oh? It looks like that kid you brought with you isn't going to be much help after all," Xzayvion commented.

Shinta struggled to stand but Xzayvion's reiatsu proved to be too strong for him. Yuki stepped before him.

"Shinta...You stay here. We'll take care of this guy."

"...Dammit..." he cursed under his breath. Once again, he proved that he was useless after all.

"Alright guys, go get them!" Xzayvion shouted. The humans each pulled out a weapon and charged.

"Try to knock out the humans as quickly as possible. We don't want to kill them," Yuki ordered.

"Right!" Both Renji and Matsumoto answered. As the three of them entered combat, Shinta clenched his chest in pain.

"W-what...is this feeling..." he barely choked out.


	7. Twilight Mascarade

Authors Note: Unless otherwise stated, all the sections in the next three chapters, including this one, takes place at roughly the same time. I thought that it's pretty obvious just by reading, but I thought I'd mention it anyways.

* * *

Yumichika had no problems dodging Tusnelda's attacks. With his constant taunts about her looks, her attacks started to become more wild and predictable.

"Your fighting style is not much different than a wild boar," he taunted.

"Shut up!" she screamed as she slammed her blade to the ground. Yumichika gracefully jumped back.

"What was that? Perhaps if you were truly beautiful, you wouldn't be missing so much."

"Shut up shut up SHUT UP!!"

Tusnelda swung her blade horizontally and Yumichika ducked. He then counterattacked with a strong vertical cut. Tusnelda started to fall backwards in an effort to avoid his attack.

-Ting-

-Thud-

Half of the eye mask that Tusnelda wore hit the ground with a dull thud. Her body shivered violently as she felt the remainder of her mask.

"My...mask..." she chocked out.

"Personally I think that look suits you better. Ah, even my own attacks can turn ugliness into beauty."

The next thing Yumichika saw was a hand coming at his face. Tusnelda then grabbed his face and threw him. Yumichika hit the ground and rolled over several times. Satisfied somewhat, Tusnelda regained her composure.

"My, perhaps if you weren't so busy showing off your ugly personality, maybe you would have seen that coming," Tusnelda laughed. Yumichika stood up and dusted his clothes off.

"Maybe if your fighting style wasn't so hideous, you would have hit me sooner," he said with a forced smile. Tusnelda then forced a smile of her own. The two then continued to glare at each other as they pelted each other with insults.

"As much as I'm enjoying our conversation, I think I should end this before your ugliness rubs off on me," Yumichika said.

"Tch! That should be my line!" Tusnelda yelled.

"You really are ugly when you're angry, you know that?"

Yumichika then held his zanpakuto before him.

"Sakikurue."

A look of shock overcame Tusnelda. As Yumichika's zanpakuto transformed into peacock feathers, Tusnelda felt her strength being drained.

"What...did you...?"

"My Fuji Kujaku can drain my enemy's reiatsu and transfer it to myself. Such an ability makes my body shine with beauty."

"Huh? A kidou-type? That's kinda cheap you know," Ikkaku commented. Yumichika was engrossed in his fight that he had forgotten that he was there.

"Ah, Ikkaku! Don't tell anyone about this! If you do, I'll tell everyone about you-know-what," he warned. Ikkaku then glared at him.

"I told you, I'm not bald..."

"Not that...I was talking about-"

Suddenly Tusnelda's reiatsu sky rocketed. Her eyes turned pure red from rage. She then held her zanpakuto in a way so she could see her reflection.

"**Live in vain, Pavo Real**!"

Tusnelda's body had transformed. Ten long scythe-like claws erupted from her back, her body became covered in feather-like armor, and her hands turned into talon-like claws. Her eyes still seethed with hatred as she looked at Yumichika. Before he could respond, he was impaled by one of her tails. He was then tossed aside like garbage and hit the ground hard. Yumichika coughed out some blood as he held his stomach. As if insulted by this act, Tusnelda charged at him with an outstretched clawed hand to finish him off.

-Clash-

Her attack was stopped as Ikkaku stood between her and her prey. His zanpakuto was already released.

"Sorry, but I can't let you kill him just yet," he said while attempting to push back her attack. His Hozukimaru was starting to crack under the pressure.

"Split!"

The staff split into three sections, catching Tusnelda off guard and sending the blade straight for her face. Upon noticing this, she quickly backed off.

"Heh, it looks like if I don't take this seriously, I'll die," Ikkaku grinned, "Just the way I like it."

"**I'll kill you...Kill...Kill kill kill kill KiLL killkillKiLlkiLLKILLKILLKILLKILLKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLL!!**" Tusnelda screamed as she charged at Ikkaku. Ikkaku quickly spun the blade on the staff and hurled it towards her. Before the blade could hit her, she grabbed hold of it and pulled hard, pulling Ikkaku off his feet and towards her. Before she could slash him he grabbed hold of her blade and kicked her face. As Tusnelda backed off, Ikkaku returned to his fighting stance.

"Man, I don't wanna have to do this, but it looks like I have no choice. Everyone else seems busy enough, so I guess it's not a big deal."

Ikkaku reattached the three sections of his staff.

"Bankai!"

Tusnelda just simply stared at Ikkaku as his bankai formed.

"**It doesn't matter if you know bankai or not. Only those who are beautiful will succeed in the end and I'm the most beautiful of all! I'll cut you, impale you, and gut you! I'll crush your bones one by one and bathe myself in your blood! Your power means nothing!**"

"Tch! You're insane you ugly bitch."

"**I'M NOT UGLY!!**"

All ten of Tusnelda's scythe-like tails came at Ikkaku all at once. In an effort to dodge them, Ikkaku leapt up into the air and began his counterattack. Ikkaku held one of the blades downward as he fell towards Tusnelda, applying all his weight onto it. Tusnelda grabbed hold of the blade with both hands; blood began seeping through her fingers. As Ikkaku began to apply more pressure onto her hands, large cracks began to form on the blade. In an effort to knock him off, Tusnelda began to swing her tails at him. Ikkaku dodged the tails and leapt off of her.

"**So this is your bankai? Seems pretty fragile if you ask me,**" she mocked. Ikkaku then started to spin the blades around himself; the dragon crest slowly began to turn red.

"**I don't know what you're doing but don't think that that'll stop me!**"

Tusnelda once again charged towards Ikkaku. As one of the blades went for her head, she stopped it with her hand. She then stabbed her tails towards him. Ikkaku then grabbed his other blade and went for a parry.

-Shiiik-

"H-huh...?"

Three of the ten tails tore though the blade and embedded their selves into Ikkaku's chest.

"**I told you, just because you know bankai doesn't mean anything,**" she grinned. She then clenched her hand; the blade she held shattered. She then shoved her other through his stomach and lifted him into the air.

"**Any last words?**"

"Scatter, Senbonzakura."

The cherry blossom shards flew quickly and hit Tusnelda's arm, severing it completely. Tusnelda screamed as she held what was left of her arm. Ikkaku glanced up to see Byakuya.

"I'm not going to thank you..." he muttered.

"I didn't expect to be thanked," Byakuya responded. Tusnelda then glared at him.

"**Who the hell are you?!**" she demanded.

"Captain of 6th division, Kuchiki Byakuya."

"**A captain, huh? I bet you think you're better than me too, don'tcha pretty boy?! It doesn't matter how many of you come at me, I'll kill you all!**"

"...You talk too much."

Senbonzakura scattered its shards towards Tusnelda once again while Tusnelda perpared herself for the next attack.

* * *

"Ahhhhh! Soul Society is sooooo boring!" Kiauna complained, "The shinigami are weak, it's too bright, and it's hot! And where are those captain guys anyway? Everyone else has found one so why-"

"Rip, Ashisogi Jizo."

Kiauna quickly drew her zanpakuto and parried the attack from behind her. She then spun around to see both Kurotsuchi and Nemu.

"A white haori...To think that I was looking for a captain and one comes for me. So tell me, which one are you again? I didn't really pay much attention to Txaran's report."

"No, no, there's no need for that. It's pointless to know my name. Research subjects have no need of that type of information," Kurotsuchi said.

"Research subject? What, you don't honestly think that you can capture me now do you?"

"Your name, please. I'd like to know ahead of time what I should write on your container."

"...Look, I don't care who you are, but there is no way you will capture me."

Suddenly a strong pressure could be felt all around them. Kiauna frantically looked around.

"What the...Both Tusnelda and Ansel have released. Are these captains really that powerful..." she gasped. Both Tusnelda and Ansel were among the strongest in Aedric's army. If they were forced to release...

"Hmph. That Zaraki...I wonder if he's even taking this seriously," Kurotsuchi pondered.

"Well, if they are releasing I might as well do it too. You wanted to know my name, right? I am Kiauna Loevast and I hope you die as horribly as you look."

Kiauna then sheathed her zanpakuto.

"Kill them slowly Veneno!"

The lower half of Kiauna's body became a serpentine tail and she gained a cobra-like crest around her head. Her nails grew out to roughly six inches in length; a thin liquid dripped from each one. She then slithered quickly towards Kurotsuchi and began trying to claw him. Kurotsuchi managed to parry a few of the attacks, yet Kiauna still managed to scratch him a few times. Satisfied, Kiauna then backed off.

"There! It doesn't matter how strong you are, you have been infected with my venom and there is nothing you can do about it!" she laughed.

"Is that so? Tell me, does your venom have anything to do with those captain hunting hollows?"

"Of course. Aedric-sama had me infuse my venom into those hollows as an experiment. A lot of your shinigami died from it if I remember correctly."

"Ah, I thought so. I had already finished researching that venom, it no longer affects me."

"I-is that so? Well then, I'll let you know that my venom is over 100 times more potent than the venom you researched."

"You're not listening, my dear. When I say that I finished researching you venom, I am completely finished with it. It wouldn't matter if it were over 1000 times more potent; it won't affect me," he explained, "Now, do you have any other tricks or is that it?"

"W-well...Yes! I have thousands of venoms in my body! I can switch to any of them in a moments notice! What do you have to say about that?!" Kiauna yelled, her voice starting to sound frantic. Kurotsuchi just shook his head.

"How boring...I have already examined all DNA signatures with your venom, therefore I should be immune to any type of venom that your body can produce," he sighed, "It's a shame, really. But I'm still in need of an arrancar sample and I suppose that you will do for now."

"J-just because you are immune to my venoms does not mean that you can capture me!"

"Oh, but my dear, I already have."

"W-what?!"

It was then that Kiauna noticed that she couldn't move.

"You struck my Ashisogi Jizo with your bare hands, did you not? I made sure to enhance the paralysis effect in it just a while ago. I also made sure that when I parried your attacks to strike under your fingernails. By now, you should have some difficulty in moving. Nemu, collect the sample. We'll start experimenting once we reach the lab."

"Yes, Mayuri-sama."

As Kurotsuchi left, Nemu grabbed Kiauna by the tail and began dragging her away while Kiauna began complaning along the way.

* * *

Elsewhere, Kenpachi and Ansel continued to trade blows with one another. No longer did these two se each other as foes nor did they care about the events happening around them. All they cared about was fighting purely for the sake of battle.

-Smack-

Kenpachi took a punch to the face. He took a step back but otherwise seemed unfazed.

-Slit-

Ansel was cut deeply along his chest. His blood poured forth, yet he paid it no mind.

-Clash-

Kenpachi's zanpakuto and Ansel's fist met in a deadlock. The two smiled as their deadlock of power continued. Covered in wounds, the two wished for nothing more than for this battle to continue forever. It was as if they received some sick pleasure from inflicting and receiving pain.

-Dot dot dot-

Three barb-like kunai were suddenly embedded in Kenpachi's back. As Kenpachi lurched forward, Ansel looked up in disgust.

"Txaran! This is my battle, stay out of it!" he shouted.

"Why did you stop?" Kenpachi asked.

"It would go against my code for an honorable battle," Ansel explained. Kenpachi laughed upon hearing this.

"Who needs honor? If I am caught off guard then I want you to strike me down. If your friend wants to interfere then let him. I really don't care, just so long as I have fun."

"...If you wish."

Before Ansel could strike him, a large reiatsu could be felt from a distance.

"Tusnelda...It seems like I'm going to have to speed this up. One of my comrades has gone into her berserk state and I have to calm her down before she turns on us."

Ansel locked his knuckles together.

"I suggest you remove that eye patch of yours. Now, burn asunder, Fuego!"

Flames began to wrap all around Ansel. When they finally dissipated his body became covered in molten armor. The ground around him began to burst into flames.

"Heh, now that's what I'm talking about! Alright then, fine. I just hope you can keep up with me."

Kenpachi then removed his eye patch. The ground began to shake violently as his reiatsu increased.

"We're both monsters, you and I," Ansel commented.

"Heh, you got that right," Kenpachi smiled.

The next attack came almost instantly. Kenpachi's zanpakuto and Ansel's fist met in yet another deadlock. The sheer force of the impact shattered all the windows within their vicinity. With his other hand, Ansel struck the ground below them, causing a pillar of molten lava to burst out. Kenpachi managed to dodge the pillar by dashing backward. Ansel then dashed through the lava and attacked with a flying kick. Kenpachi grabbed Ansel's foot in an attempt the stop it, however his hand began to burn. Kenpachi ignored the pain and struck Ansel across the chest. Fire burst forth from where he was cut. While Kenpachi was caught off guard by the flames, Ansel grabbed hold of Kenpachi's shihakusho.

"Explosión!"

Kenpachi's body was suddenly engulfed in flames. Ansel tossed him away as his body burned.

"It was an honor to fight you, Zaraki Kenpachi. Perhaps out battle could have lasted longer under other circumstances," Ansel bowed. Turning away from the burning corpse, he began to walk off.

"Where do you think you're going? We're not finished yet!"

Ansel quickly spun around. He gazed in shock as Kenpachi stood up as if nothing had happened. Although he was covered in burns, his smile never faded.

"'No matter how many times he's killed, he will never go down'...Impossible!" Ansel gasped.

"Don't tell me that you've lost your will to fight already. C'mon! That can't be all you've got!"

"Tch! I have no time for this. I will pour all my strength into my next blow! This shall be the end to the Kenpachi name!"

"A final blow, huh?" I'm game! Let's set the sky ablaze with this last attack!"

The two stood at a far distance while concentrating all their reiatsu for the next blow. And what came next...

-**BOOOOOOOOOOOOM**-

A large explosion shook the entirety of Soul Society. Everyone looked towards the sky to see a large flaming pillar. As the flames died down, the two figures still stood in the middle. Kenpachi, who was covered in severe burns, and Ansel, with blade sticking through his chest. Most of the molten armor was blown off from the attack. Ansel coughed out some blood.

"Hah...hah...I'm glad I had a chance to fight you," he coughed, "I'm...sorry, Jaku-senpai...Aedric-sama..."

And with that, Ansel's body faded away.

"...You were a worthy opponent. I'll remember your name, Ansel More..."

After having expending all his strength, Kenpachi fell to the ground.

* * *

"Ansel...is dead?!" Txaran gasped. He knew that the captain was strong but...to defeat Ansel?

"...There's no way he could have survived that. I must return to Los Noches and report this to Aedric-sama."

Txaran then opened a portal to Hueco Mundo and stepped though.


	8. The Strong and The Immortal

"Bankai!"

A giant armored warrior erupted out of the ground behind Komamura.

"Wooooooow! Your bankai looks awesome! What does it do? What does it do?" Jaku asked all giddy like.

Komamura swung his zanpakuto and the giant followed suit, aiming the blade towards Jaku. Jaku responded by swinging his axe, deflecting Komamura's attack completely. This continued on for a short while, leaving the two in a stalemate.

"Hm?"

Jaku suddenly paused without warning. As the giant's blade neared him, Jaku simple tilted his head, missing the blade by mere inches. Jaku then leapt up onto the 7th divisions headquarters and began scanning the Seireitei.

"So, both Tusnelda-chan and Ansel-kun have released, huh? They must be fighting some pretty strong opponents. Oh? Kiauna-chan has released too? That just leaves me and Txaran..." Jaku pondered to himself, "Now that I think about it, maybe Tusnelda just got pissed off and Ansel released only to finish his battle faster. Kiauna probable only released because she was worried about the captain's strength. Okay, yeah, that makes more sense."

Jaku then remembered that he was still in the middle of a fight.

"Ah! I'm sorry Komamura-san! I'm usually not so scatterbrained."

Upon landing onto the ground, Jaku readied himself.

"Alright! Here I come!"

Jaku began to rapidly spin around. As he began gaining speed, Jaku began to look like a spinning tornado. And that's when he threw his axe. The axe flew like a missile aiming straight for Komamura. The giant placed its left arm in front of Komamura in an attempt to stop the attack.

-Shiiiik-

The axe tore through the arm like it was nothing and continued on its course. Without any other options, Komamura attempted to dive out of the way.

-Slit-

"Arrrg!" Komamura screamed as the axe tore through his right shoulder. Upon closer examination, Komamura noticed that it was only a deep cut, nothing that could stop him from fighting. The axe continued on its path, eventually embedding itself into the ground. Komamura glanced upwards and looked at Jaku.

"Whoooooa! Whoooooa! I-I feel...sooooo dizzy!" Jaku moaned as he stumbled around. Komamura took advantage of the opportunity and swung his zanpakuto, causing the giant to swing as well. However, he once again caught nothing but air.

"Wow, you really don't play around now do you?" a voice from behind spoke.

"...As I thought. You're only acting like a child," Komamura spoke.

"Hmm...Not really acting. More like I've gone senile...I guess. When you've gotten to be as old and powerful as I am, everything is like a game."

-BOOOOOOOOOOOM-

The ground suddenly began to shake violently as a large pillar of fire lit up the sky.

"Ansel-kun is really serious...I guess I better take things seriously too..."

Before Komamura could react, Jaku appeared in front of him and kicked him, sending him straight into the air. Komamura quickly grabbed the edge of a nearby building and landed on top of it. With a quick sonido, Jaku was once again in front of him. Komamura quickly swung his blade, however Jaku vanished once again. Sensing that something was wrong, Komamura dashed backwards, just in time to dodge Jaku's flying kick.

"Good reaction time! Most people can't keep up with me once I throw my axe," Jaku said while going into a flurry of punches. Komamura quickly backed off and swung his blade upwards, causing the giant's blade to tear through the building form under them. Jaku leapt up into the air and pointed his finger towards Komamura.

"Bala!"

As the many bala attacks began to rain down, Komamura dashed forward, aiming for Jaku's landing spot. Komamura swung his zanpakuto at Jaku just as he landed.

-Slit-

Komamura finally managed to finally strike Jaku, making a diagonal cut from his left eye to his right cheek. Jaku stood in complete shock as blood flowed over his face.

"Ansel-kun...is dead...?" he said in shock. Komamura went for another strike, but Jaku stopped it with a single finger. A look of anger overcame him as his reiatsu began to rise.

"I'm sorry Komamura-san...but I'm in a really bad mood!"

Jaku punched Komamura square in the chest, sending him flying backwards. As Jaku dashed after Komamura, he tore his axe out of the ground and swung hard. Komamura attempted to parry the axe, but it cut through his zanpakuto like a hot knife through butter, cutting him deeply across his chest. Jaku then jumped into the air and kicked Komamura in the face, knocking him to the ground. Jaku then lifted his axe into the air, ready to finish Komamura off. However, he suddenly hesitated and placed the axe back onto his back.

"I guess that's it for today," he said regretfully.

* * *

The sky above Soul Society suddenly cracked. Hundred of hands burst forward and pulled the crack back enough to make a large portal. Two pillars of light burst forth from the portal, surrounding both Jaku and Tusnelda respectfully. The two were slowly lifted up towards the portal.

"I guess you lucked out today. I hope you get better soon, Komamura-san. I'd like to fight you again," Jaku said cheerfully.

"**NO!! Not now! Let me kill him! Let me kill him!!**" Tusnelda screamed while trying to escape from the negation. Byakuya fell to one knee. He was covered in deep cuts and had one of his eyes closed.

"Even with one arm...She's a monster..." he muttered while breathing deeply.

Everyone is Soul Society watched as the arrancar moved closer to the portal. Stepping forth from the portal stood yet another figure. Although he had changed in appearance over the years, Yamamoto still recognized him.

"Aedric Nat..." he muttered to himself. Aedric looked down upon the destruction his arrancar and wrought. Then, something of interest caught his eye.

"Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni...So, he's still alive," Aedric smiled to himself. He then turned back as the portal began to close.

* * *

Just outside of the shopping district of Karakura, Ichigo and Rukia dashed though the streets.

"Is she still following us? Ichigo asked.

"I'm not su-"

A silver thread suddenly came out of the sky and embedded itself into the ground a few feet in front of them.

"Yeah, she's still following us," Rukia corrected herself.

"Okay, the park isn't that much further away. Let's go!"

As the two started running again, Dainora watched over the city while floating above.

"...Those two sure are making this job a pain..." she sighed to herself. She then outstretched her hands towards Ichigo and Rukia's direction.

"I don't know what you two are up to, but I'm not here to play games."

Ten silver threads then shot out of her fingers. The threads came out fast and tore through the sky, making a loud whining noise as they drew closer to the earth. Ichigo and Rukia both began a wild dance of dodging and diving in an attempt to avoid the threads. The more they dodged the more threads Dainora began to fire at them. Soon enough, Ichigo and Rukia finally arrived at the park. Sensing that they were done running, Dainora came down from the air.

"I see that you're done running. It's nice to see that you have both accepted your deaths. Now then, let's get this over with."

"We haven't accepted anything yet. We just wanted a change of scenery," Ichigo stated. Dainora smiled upon hearing this.

"Oh really? I think that you were far better off in that shopping district. Aedric-sama gave us specific orders to not kill any humans that could be used for the 'sacrifice'. You both could have used those humans as shields and it would have been quite effective," Dainora mused.

"Y-you monster! We would never...!" Rukia started.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. You would be surprised at what one would do to keep their life going. Now, can we hurry this up? I have to get back to Las Noches as soon as possible."

Ichigo and Rukia prepared their selves as Dainora drew her blades once again.

"As I said before; five minutes, you will not last longer than that."

Dainora started off by firing two threads, one at Ichigo and one at Rukia. As they both dodge out of the way, Dainora ran up to Ichigo and slashed at him. Ichigo barely managed to parry the attack. With her free hand, Dainora then went for another slash at the already preoccupied Ichigo. However, Rukia came from behind and went for an attack of her own. Dainora saw this coming and stopped Rukia's blade with her own. In an unusual feat, Dainora lifted herself up off the ground while still holding Ichigo and Rukia's attacks at bay. She then kicked them hard, sending both of them flying back. Dainora then leapt into the air and aimed for Rukia.

"First dance, tsukishiro!"

Rukia quickly backed out of the icy circle as the ground and everything above it froze, completely encasing Dainora in an icy prison. No sooner had she been frozen, the pillar of ice cracked and shattered with Dainora completely unharmed.

"Nice try!" she shouted while extending her hand down towards Rukia.

"Cero!"

As the cero descended upon her, Rukia held her palm out in desperation.

"Hadou no. 33! Soukatsui!"

The kidou attack hit the cero dead on, yet it was not enough to stop it.

"Dammit! Getsuga tenshou!"

The getsuga tenshou hit the cero; however it only managed to deter it only a little ways away from Rukia.

-Boooooooom-

A large crater appeared where the cero hit the ground. The resulting shockwave ended up sending Rukia flying off. Ichigo barely managed to hold his ground and watched and Dainora landed onto the ground once again. As Ichigo attempted to strike Dainora again, she stopped Zangetsu with both of her blades, one on each side of Ichigo's blade. She then flipped herself over the blade, wrapped her legs around his neck and slammed him onto the ground. Dainora then quickly got onto her feet and stabbed downwards, aiming for Ichigo's heart.

"Santen Kesshun!"

Suddenly a barrier appeared around Ichigo, stopping Dainora's strike.

"What the hell?!" she shouted. As she glanced upwards she saw Chad running full speed towards her. Dainora leapt back into the air and dodge Chad's fist. As she jumped backwards, several arrows came flying at her. As each one came near her, she swatted each one out of the air with her blades. Once they were all gone, she landed on a nearby jungle gym.

"Inoue! Chad! Ishida! Where did you guys come from?"

"We came to help," Orihime explained.

"We heard that you needed help," Chad added.

"And we can't let you guys have all the action," Ishida finished.

"But, how did you know?" Rukia asked.

"Ha ha ha! It was all me, baby!" Kon shouted, coming out from behind a nearby tree," Let's go everyone, attack!"

"...Since when did you start giving orders?" Ichigo muttered.

"Tch! You're all more troublesome than you're worth. If it wasn't for Aedric-sama's order to eliminate you all, I'd have left by now. Let's see...one...two...so there are six of you now. I didn't want to do this, but it seems like I have no choice now," Dainora said while lifting her blades.

"W-w-wait! She's not...counting me, is she?" Kon frantically asked.

-Slit-

Dainora suddenly stabbed herself; the right blade was embedded into the left portion of her stomach while the left blade was embedded into her right breast. She cut herself horizontally and then diagonally, making a bloody Z across her body.

"Spin the web, Arana!"

Dainora's mask shattered as six extra eyes opened up on her forehead. Four spider-like legs burst from her waist as a white fluid began to seep out of her chest. Ishida began the next attack by firing a multitude of arrows towards her. In response, Dainora pulled some of the fluid out and threw it into the air, forming a web that began to absorb all the arrows. No sooner had she done that, Chad was back in her face. His fist hit her hard in the stomach, yet she seemed unaffected. The fluid from her chest soon wrapped around his fist and began to encompass his body. Dainora then smacked Chad out the way as his body became wrapped in a cocoon.

"...Bakudo no. 61, rikujokoro!" Rukia shouted as she finished her chant. Six bars of light surrounded Dainora preventing her from moving.

"Inoue, go help Chad. Ichigo, Ishida, help me finish her off," Rukia said while beginning another chant.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Ichigo said while holding Zangetsu forward, "Bankai!"

Ishida pulled out a steel schider as Ichigo charged up his attack.

"Gah! I-I can't move! Damn you!" Dainora yelled.

"...Hadou no. 63, souren soukatsui!"

"Getsuga tenshou!"

The arrow pierced through Dainora's chest and the other two attacks hit her shortly afterward. Then, suddenly, Dainora exploded into thousands of skull faced spiders. The spiders quickly scattered away from the battlefield.

"Did...we do it?" Ishida asked.

The spiders then climbed up a nearby building and converged, reforming Dainora's body.

"I guess not..." Ichigo scowled.

"As I said before, you are only delaying your inevitable deaths. So long as a single one of my spiders live, I can be reborn as many times as I like. I am immortal," Dainora sneered. She then readied herself for her next assault.

"Dainora-chan! It's time to come back home!"

Dainora spun around to see Jaku standing behind her.

"Jaku?! What are you doing here?!" she demanded.

"Aedric-kun said we have to come back to Las Noches for now," Jaku explained.

"B-but...I'm not done with my mission! Why do we have to-?"

"Kiauna-chan has been captured and...Ansel-kun is dead..."

"A-Ansel?! How many people did he fight?"

"One person, a captain to be specific."

"A captain is stronger than Ansel..." Dainora said in shock.

"Uh-huh, and that's why we're to report back. No resisting now."

Jaku suddenly picked Dainora up and tossed her into the portal. He then turned towards Ichigo and the others.

"Dainora-chan has to go home now! I'm sure she'll want to play with you all in a few days or so!" he called out to them as he stepped into the portal.

"Ahh! Jaku you bast-"

The portal then closed, cutting Dainora off. Ichigo and the others started dumbfounded over the events that happened.

"Wait...What just happened here?" Ichigo asked.


	9. Angel's Thanatos

Xzayvion watched from afar as his 'friends' fought the shinigami. One of them swung his sickle at Yuki.

-Clash-

Yuki parried the attack, yet she felt herself being pushed back. Thinking quickly, she struck her knee into his stomach. As the human keeled over, Yuki then bashed him from behind his neck. The human stumbled forward but quickly went for another attack. Yuki leapt backwards to avoid it.

"Renji! Matsumoto!"

"Yeah, I know! They just don't want to go down!" Renji yelled as he kicked one of his attackers.

"It's like their not even human," Matsumoto added while parrying an attack.

"Oh, they're human alright. They just won't go down unless I say so," a voice spoke from behind Yuki. Yuki swung her zanpakuto quickly to hit Xzayvion but suddenly stopped. A human stood between her and Xzayvion and her zanpakuto was at the human's neck.

"Why do you hesitate?" Xzayvion asked.

-Rip-

"Argh!"

Xzayvion's hand tore through the human's chest and into Yuki's gut. Yuki stepped back as her blood poured forth, her eyes filled with anger.

"What? You're not going to say that was cheap are you? This is a battle to the death, there are no rules. Besides, my buddy here is just fine."

Despite having a gaping hole in his chest, the human still stood.

"If you guys are going to have this much trouble with my friends then I might as well sit this one out."

Xzayvion then walked over to a nearby bench and sprawled himself out. The wounded human then readied his bat and swung hard. Yuki stepped back, but slipped and fell to the ground while barely dodging the bat. As she looked up she saw something odd; blood dripped off of something invisible from behind the human's head. The human swung his bat down but Yuki rolled out of the way. She then swung her zanpakuto at the floating blood. Almost immediately, the human fell over.

"There are invisible strings attached to their heads!" Yuki called out. Once this was figured out, Yuki and the others easily dispatched the remaining humans.

-Clap clap clap-

"Not bad. I expected it to take longer for you all to figure it out. Well, before we get down to business, allow me to clean up the trash."

A large hole slowly began to form on the ground. The humans fell through into a white room as the shinigami backed away. Not too soon after they fell, large spikes erupted from the walls and floor, impaling the humans. Shortly thereafter, the hole closed.

"Oh wow! Jacint would have really liked that one!" Xzayvion laughed. Yuki and the others raised their zanpakuto.

"Y-you..!"

Everyone quickly turned towards Shinta. He was finally on his feet and was shaking violently.

"Are you...the Puppet Master?!" he demanded. Yuki's eyes grew wide upon hearing this.

"...Wow, I haven't heard that name in ages," Xzayvion said in amazement. He then bowed before them.

"My name is Xzayvion Sitruk, the Puppet Master. Nice to meet you all."

"Xzayvion...Sitruk..._I'LL KILL YOU!!_"

Shinta then rushed towards Xzayvion in rage and swung his zanpakuto. Xzayvion easily stopped the attack with his arm.

"There are a few things you did wrong here. One: you didn't release your zanpakuto. And two: you're so weak that you couldn't even scratch me even if you did. To me, you're just a worthless nobody. Now, stay out of the way, kid."

Xzayvion then kicked Shinta hard, sending him back towards the others. Yuki, Matsumoto and Renji ran up to him as he landed.

"Shinta! Are you all right?" Yuki asked.

"S-stay out of this! He's...mine!"

Shinta tried to get up, but fell over.

"I'm supposed to kill him! My whole life up to now is for this very moment! So get out of my-argh!"

With the combination of Xzayvion's reiatsu and the pain he was feeling, Shinta found himself unable to get back up. Yuki, Matsumoto and Renji then stepped in front of him.

"I'm sorry Shinta...We'll kill him for you," Yuki apologized.

"No! This is my battle! If you kill him, I'll never forgive you!"

"Shinta..."

"Please, get out of the way! Just give me a few seconds to-"

"Shinta!"

Shinta grimaced as Yuki yelled at him.

"Shinta, you're too weak to fight someone like him. So just...lie there and let us handle this."

"...Dammit!" Shinta cried. He was so close to his goal, yet so far away.

"...Does that kid have a grudge against me or something? Ah well, it's not like it makes that much of a difference. After all, you three are much more interesting. Wouldn't you agree, Captain Hitsugaya Yuki, Lieutenant Abarai Renji and Lieutenant Masumoto Rangiku?"

"You...know our names?"

"Yeah, Txaran is pretty good at surveillance. I paid close attention to you three since you were all heading towards the human world. I don't know why you brought that kid over there with you, but it seems like he won't be a threat at all."

Xzayvion then pulled out and lit up a new cigarette.

"Well, I'm ready when you all are."

Yuki lifted her sword high into the air.

"Shimo Nami!"

Xzayvion leapt into the air to dodge the icy wave, only to meet Renji's blade. He then grabbed Zabimaru and pulled Renji towards him. With his other hand, Xzayvion smacked Renji in the back of the head, sending him to the ground. Once Xzayvion hit the ground, both Yuki and Matsumoto attacked.

-Clash-

Xzayvion held back both blades with each arm. While he was busy, Renji ran towards them.

"What are you going to do now?" Yuki asked.

"Ha ha...what indeed?"

Renji swung his blade towards Matsumoto. Matsumoto managed to dodge out of the way before the attack connected.

"Renji! What are you doing?!" she demanded.

"I-I don't know! I can't control my body!"

"That's right; lieutenant Abarai is my new friend. He's going to do whatever I want him to do. I guess that just leaves you and me, Miss Captain."

Xzayvion used his now free arm to strike Yuki. Yuki leapt backwards but keeled over in pain.

"Having stomach problems?" Xzayvion mocked.

"Shut up!"

Yuki swung her blade hard, yet Xzayvion didn't bother to stop it.

"Out of all the arrancar serving Aedric, my hierro is the toughest. If you want to hurt me, you're going to have to use your bankai. Don't worry, I won't stop you."

"And why would you not stop me?"

"Heh, life is no fun if there isn't a little bit of risk involved."

"...Fine then. Ban...k-argh!!"

A sharp pain suddenly assaulted Yuki. A mask slowly began to form as her hair turned black at the roots.

"No! Not now!" Yuki yelled as her transformation slowly came over her.

"Huh...That was faster than expected," Xzayvion commented, "So tell me, why do you help these shinigami? Our powers aren't that different, so why don't we join forces. Aedric would-"

"_**Bankai!**_"

Xzayvion quickly backed off before Yuki could strike him.

"What the hell?! Are you siding with the shinigami?!"

"_**No, I'm on my own side. I could care less about what your Aedric wants. In fact, you should all bow down and serve me, how about that?**_"

"Tch! I see that this is going nowhere. Aedric told me that I could kill you if you refused us."

"_**Ha! You? Kill me?**_"

"You seem to have forgotten about you power limiter. As a captain, you are considerably weaker here and since Soul Society is under attack, you won't be getting much stronger anytime soon. I'm much stronger than Jacint was and I know what to expect."

Yuki then held out her finger like a makeshift gun.

"_**You talk too much...bala!**_"

Xzayvion held out his hand and took the bala head on. The force from the attack tore up his suit.

"Aw man! These things are hard to come by, you know!"

"_**Shimo Nami!**_"

Xzayvion once again leapt into the air in order to dodge the icy wave. Yuki then pointed her zanpakuto into the air.

"_**Cero!**_"

As the attack closed in Xzayvion pulled out his gun.

"Cero!"

-BOOOOOOOOOOM-

The two attacks clashed with one another. The shockwave that resulted in the impact sent Renji and Matsumoto to the ground. Shinta struggled to not be blown away. In the aftermath, Xzayvion stood before Yuki.

"This is for ruining my suit!"

Xzayvion then struck Yuki with his fist and then kicked her in the gut. He then lifted her off the ground and threw her. Yuki then bounced off the ground twice and slowly began to stand up again.

"_**Tch! You annoy me! I'm gonna k-**_"

Yuki suddenly fell to the ground.

"_**D-dammit! What're you doing?!**_" she demanded to herself.

"Ha! Having problems with your other self? You know, if you join us, we'll help you keep your other self down."

"_**I don't need your help, so piss off!**_"

"...Such language. Oh well, can't say I didn't try," Xzayvion muttered as he pulled out his gun again, "Since you won't cooperate, I guess I'll just kill you. Just to make sure, I'm going to use our strongest type of cero. Well, it was nice knowing you."

Xzayvion's reiatsu rose sharply as the area around him began to distort.

"_**Dammit Yuki! Let me move! You're going to kill us both!**__"_

"último cero!"

The cero tore through the streets at an amazing speed. Debris was thrown everywhere as it quickly drew closer to the fallen Yuki.

"B-blossom...Kurohana!"

Suddenly, a circular shield made up of twenty curved blades appeared in front of Yuki. The shield took the último cero head on, completely negating the attack. Xzayvion took a step back in shock.

"W-what the hell?!"

All twenty blades suddenly detached and floated into the air. Shinta then stood up and held his hand outwards.

"Now go!"

The blades then fired off like missiles towards Xzayvion.

"...Oh please. Those things can't even scratch me. You're just wasting your-"

-Slit-

One of the blades managed to knick Xzayvion's right shoulder. Blood slowly began to pour from the cut.

"Tch! Those things are more dangerous than I thought..."

Xzayvion then entered into a crazy dance of dodging in an attempt to avoid the blades. As he dodged he saw Shinta running towards him with a blade of his own in his hands. Shinta swung upwards, yet Xzayvion fell back, avoiding the blade by mere inches. Half of Xzayvion's cigarette flew through the air. Immediately after Shinta's attack, Xzayvion grabbed him by the neck. He then squeezed hard, forcing Shinta to drop his blade.

"Nice try. You managed to catch me off guard; I'll give you props for that. But you ruined a perfectly good cigarette. Just for that, I'm going to crush your neck. Got any last words?"

"...I-it doesn't...matter. R-right n-now my...blades are c-coming back..." Shinta squeezed out. Xzayvion turned back to see that the other 19 blades were nearly upon them. There was no escape.

"S-seems like...we're g-going to die...together..."

However just before the blades hit them, they were all blown away by some great force.

"Wow, that was a close one Xzayvion-kun!" Jaku said in surprise.

"J-Jaku?! What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Kiauna-chan got captured and Ansel-kun...died...So Aedric-kun said we have to retreat for now."

"Ansel...Well, that doesn't matter now. I still have work to do."

"But Aedric-kun-"

"Who the hell cares what Aedric says? I'm having fun here so you can go back and tell him to piss off."

"...You're not thinking about defying his orders, are you?"

"Tch, like I care. Now, go away and let-"

Xzayvion suddenly stopped as Jaku held an axe to his throat.

"J-Jaku...What are you-"

"You know the rules Xzayvion-kun. Aedric-kun's word is the law. We exist for no other reason than to serve him."  
"...You don't honestly buy that bullshit, do you?"

"You want to try me?" Jaku asked while slowly pressing his axe into Xzayvion's throat, "Now, drop the kid."

Xzayvion reluctantly loosened his grip and dropped Shinta to the ground.

"Fine then, I'll leave," Xzayvion muttered.

"Okay! It's not much fun in Hueco Mundo without you Xzayvion-kun!"  
"Yeah yeah, whatever..."

Jaku then opened up a portal.

"W-wait! We're...not finished yet!" Shinta called out.

"Thank your lucky stars kid. If it weren't for that bastard Aedric, you would be dead right now. But I'll let you in on a little secret. We'll be back in nine days, when the moon is full."

And with that, Xzayvion walked through the portal.

"...Aedric-kun is going to be mad, you know," Jaku warned as he stepped through as well.

"Wait!" Shinta yelled. However the portal was already closed.

"_**G-get off me!!**_" Yuki demanded as both Renji and Matsumoto began to tear off her mask. As they finally tore it off, Shinta stumbled over to them. He looked down at Yuki, of who was now unconscious.

"...What happened to her?" Shinta asked.

"It's...complicated..." Matsumoto said.

Shinta then looked up into the sky. The sun had finally set and the night began to take over.

"Nine days...on the full moon," he repeated to himself. He then gazed at the many blades behind him.

"...I won't lose next time!" he promised to himself.

* * *

That's it for this chapter. It's come to my attention that I kinda forgot to provide the translations to the arrancar's releases. Sorry about that. Well, here are the ones that have been provided so far:

Tusnelda: Pavo Real means Peacock.

Kiauna: Veneno means Venom

Ansel: Fuego means Fire

Dainora: Arana means Spider

For this chapter, último is Spanish for final/last.

And as an extra bonus, Jacint's zanpakuto's name was Lagarto, which meant Lizard.


	10. Cresent Moon

Shinta watched over Yuki as she slept. It had almost been a full day since their battle, yet she still had yet to regain consciousness. Not long after Xzayvion left, Ichigo and the others showed up. Orihime then healed their wounds with a strange technique. Shinta had never seen healing like that before. With someone like that nearby, he began to wonder why he was even here at all.

"How is she, Shinta?"

Shinta turned around to see Matsumoto standing behind him.

"Well...she seems to be perfectly fine. I don't really see any reason why she is still unconscious," he answered.

"...I see."

"Matsumoto...about Yuki..."

"Unfortunately, I don't know much myself. All that I know is that whatever is happening ot her is because of Aizen. She's been trying her hardest to keep it a secret, yet at this rate she may succumb to her other self. Se has also refused any help offered to her as well. She can be so stubborn sometimes..."

"I'm not sure if I understand it completely but..."

-Ding dong-

"Hold that thought," Matsumoto said as she quickly left the room. Once she was gone, Shinta looked back towards Yuki.

"...You promised to help me, so I want to do the same," he said to her. Moments later, Matsumoto walked into the room with Hisagi.

"Whew, I'm glad that she's safe," he sighed in relief.

"Hisagi, we heard that Soul Society was attacked yesterday. What happened there?" Matsumoto asked.

"Yeah, we were attacked by five arrancar yesterday. We lost many people and a few of the captains and lieutenants were badly injured during the battle. Captain Kenpachi managed to kill one of them and Captain Kurotsuchi managed to capture one; she is apparently being questioned at the moment. And in the end, the others retreated back to Hueco Mundo. So, what happened here? I heard that you guys wre attacked too."

"We were attacked by an arrancar and Ichigo fought another one. After a while they just sort of retreated. The weird thing was that they were both taken away by a child..."

"A child? Captain Komamura warned us about him. He told us that there is a strong chance that he may be the strongest."

"Xzayvion...he said that they'll be comming back in eight days," Shinta spoke up.

"Eh? Are you sure?" Matsumoto asked.

"Yeah, he told me that just before he left."

"That doesn't give us much time then..." Hisagi said, "By the way, where is Renji?"

"He left us early this morning. He told me that he was going to train in the meantime," Matsumoto answered.

"I see...I guess at this point that's about all you can really can do. I'm going to stay here in the meantime and wait for captain to wake up. I'm sure that head captain Yamamoto would like to hear her report as soon as possible."

As Hisagi made himself comfortable, Shinta gazed out the window once more. Nighttime was already starting to set in and the half moon shined brightly over the city.

"Eight days...huh?"

Shinta then took a glance at Yuki and then at his zanpakuto.

"...I'm going out to train," he announced, "As Hisagi-san said, it's really all we can do at this point. I...want to be stronger. I don't want to be useless anymore.'

"Go for it. We'll watch over captain in the meantime," Hisagi nodded.

"Yeah, thanks."

Shinta then left the room and headed into the streets.

Kiauna slowly opened her eyes. A bright light shone onto her face, causing her to squint in discomfort. That's when she noticed that she could not move. She looked frantically at her arms and saw that they were fastened to a table.

"Ah good. I see that you are finally awake."

Although she could not see him, she easily recognised the voice.

"Where the hell am I you freak?!" she demanded.

"Now now, there is no need to be rude. Now then, I have a few questions for you."

"...Screw you!"

"I thought you might say that," Kurotsuchi chuckled. He then pulled out a needle and a scalpul.

"If you cooperate and tell me what I want to know, I'll give you this sadative that will numb your pain. If you don't, I'll just start disecting you without it."

"...So regardless of what I choose, you're going to cut me open?

"Correct. So tell me, what is this Aedric Nat up to?"

"Tch! Like I would know. He doesn't ever tell us anything."

"Is that so?"

-Slit-

"Augh?!"

Kurotsuchi suddenly cut a long like from Kiauna's chest down to her stomach.

"Hmm...Let's see what makes you tick..."

"H-hey! I just told you! Aedric-sama never-AUGH!!"

Tears began to well up in Kiauna's eyes as Kurotsuchi stuck his hand inside of her body. She fought back the urge the scream as he began feeling her organs.

"Heart...liver...lungs...The placement appears to be the same as a normal human. Perhaps I should cut a small piece off for furthur study," he contemplated as he lifted his scalpul once more.

"H-he's going to sacrifice everyone in Karakura and make himself the hollow king! There! Are you happy now?!"

"I see that you are not as stupid as you appear to be. But since you took so long ot give me a straight answer, I think I'll hold back on the sadative until you answer a few more questions for me."

"Y-you bastard!"

"Next question, what has been the purpose behind your recent attacks? If you just wanted to sacrifice all the citizans of Karakura, I highly doubt that you would attack us and draw attention to yourselves."

"We wanted you all out of the way so that we would go unchallenged."  
-Slit-

Kurotsuchi suddenly swiped his scalpul across the heart on Kiauna's cheek.

"Ow! What the fuck was that for?!"

"Sorry but that tattoo of yours was bothering me. I hope you don't mind,"

"You bastard! The second I get out of here, I'm going to kill you!"

"Hmm...when you release your zanpakuto, does your skeletal structure change as well?"

"H-hey! Are you even listening to me?!"

"...You're being so noisy. Perhaps I should just skip the questions and just continue the experiments," he sighed, "Now I'll ask you again, what was the purpose behind your attacks?"

"...Aedric-sama wants to catch the attention of Yamamoto. He wants to fight him one last time before becoming king," she muttered.

"Now that wasn't so difficult now was it? Now I want to know more about your comrades. Out of all of them, which one is the strongest? If you tell me what I want, I'll give you the sadative."

"...Jaku Weiss. Out of all of us, Jaku is by far the strongest."

"And which one would that one be? Would he be the one that Zaraki killed?"

"He looks like a little kid. I'd be surprised if Jaku lost to one of you. He may act careless, but he fould fight each of us at the same time and still win easily," she explained.

Kurotsuchi then jabbed the nedle into Kiauna's neck.

"That sadative will only last a few minutes, so if you don't want to suffer, you better keep answering my questions," Kurotsuchi explained, "Now then, next question..."

-Ding-a-ling-

Shinta walked through the doors to the Urahara shop.

"Ah, welcome...Murakami-kun, was it? What brings you here?" Urahara greeted him.

"Urahara...Kisuke..."

Shinta then bowed down before him.

"Please! Train me!" he begged.

"Oh? And why would you need training from me? Abarai-kun is already training downstairs, I'm sure if you asked him-"

"No, I would prefer it if you were the one to train me. The arrancar are going to return eight days from now. I need to get stronger by then so that i can join the battle."

"If what you say is true, then it might be better if you just step back from the front lines," Urahara explained.

"B-but..."

"Soul Society should easily be able to take care of this situation. As a medic, you should help out the 4th division and help with healing injuries."

Shinta felt defeated, however, he would not give up.

"One of the arrancar...he killed me when I was alive. I would od anything to avenge myself so...please..."

"Oh, come on Kisuke, just train the kid," a voice spoke out from behind Urahara.

"Y-Yoruichi! Uh, how long...?"

"Long enough. It's not like you have anything better to do these days anyways. You never know, he could become a strong ally."

"B-but...I don't wanna..." Urahara complained.

-Smack-

"What do you mean 'I don't wanna'?! Stop being so lazy and do something for a change!" Yoruichi yelled as she began shaking him violently.

"O-okay I will! J-just s-stop shaking me!"

As Yoruichi let go of him, she glanced over at Shinta.

"Hey kid."

"Y-yes?"

"You owe me one, okay?" she said as she left the room.

"...Scary." Shinta whispered to himself.

Aedric's footsteps echoed loudly as he walked towards his subordinates. Before him stood Tusnelda, Txaran, Dainora and Xzayvion.

"Yesterday's operation was a failure. Kiauna was captured, Ansel was killed and neither of you managed to even kill one captain. So tell me, what makes any of you think that you are worthy enough to even look at me?"

The others remained silent as Aedric began to walk towards each of them.

"Tusnelda..."

"I could have killed him, Aedric-sama. Had I been given just a little more time-"

"Are you...questioning me, Tusnelda?"

"N-n-no! Of c-course not!"

"You were careless, Tusnelda."

Aedric then grabbed what was left of her arm and squeezed hard.

"If you had payed just a little more attention, maybe you would still have your arm right now, don't you think?"

"Y-yes Aedric-sama...I-it hurts..."

And with that, Aedric released her.

"Now, go to the lab and get yourself a new arm. You are useles to me the way you are now," Aedric said coldly. Tusnelda nodded and walked out of the room. Once she was gone, Aedric turned his attention to the next one.

"Txaran...I apprecate your effort to prove yourself to me, but to me, you are only useful only in survailance, nothing else. Your barbs are very useful to me Txaran, it would be a waste to lose you."

"Thank you, Aedric-sama."

"Now then, I want you to go to the human world and set your barbs near the shinigami who live there. I wish to know more about their abilities."

"Yes, Aedric-sama!"

Txaran then cut open a portal and left the room.

"Dainora..."

"I-it wasn't my fault, Aedric-sama. More and more people interfeared and under those circumstances I couldn't..."

"Don't worry Dainora, I'm not angry with you. Had Ansel not have been killed, I wouldn't have doubted that you would have been successful."

"T-thank you, Aedric-sama!"

"You may go now."

Dainora quickly bowed and left the room.

"Xzayvion..."

"Yeah yeah, I know. I screwed up and I ignored your orders. So just go ahead and give me a slap on the wrist and-"

Xzayvion was suddenly slammed onto the floor. Aedric then stomped his foot onto his back.

"You on the other hand could have easily killed your opponents whenever you wished. Tell me Xzayvion, why do you keep defying me?"

"Heh, it's because I don't like you, Aedric."

-Crack-

"Gah!"

"That's 'Aedric-sama' you disrespectful little whelp! Do not forget who it was who introduced you to your power. By accepting it, you vowed to serve me until death."

"Tch! It's not like we had a choice! It was either serve you or die, what kind of choice is that?! Nobody here respects you Aedric, we only serve you because we cannot kill you"

Suddenly, a blade was placed at Xzayvion's neck. The zanpakuto was completly clear, as if it were made of glass.

"And now I give you that choice again, do you wish to serve me or do you wish for death?"

Xzayvion swallowed his pride and turned away.

"I'll...follow you..." he muttered.

"You'll follow me...what?"

"I'll follow you...Aedric-sama..."  
"Much better."

Aedric removed his zanpakuto from Xzayvion's neck. With one quick motion, then then cut Xzayvion's arm off.

"Now, go to the lab and get yourself a new arm. You are useles to me the way you are now."

Xzayvion grasped his bloody stub and slowly left the room while cursing under his breath. Once he was gone, Aedric walked over to a nearby window. He looked up into the sky and gazed upon the crescent moon.

"I see you still watch the moon in your free time," a voice spoke from the darkness.

"What do you want, Jaku?"

"Oh...not much. I just came to check up on you," Jaku answered. He then stood beside Aedric and joined him in his moon watching.

"Y'know, it wouldn't hurt to be a little nicer to everyone."

"...They are my servants, I'll treat them how I see fit."

"Oh? And does that apply to me too?"

"I doubt you would listen to me if I told you that you were careless."

"Eh? I'm not that careless, Aedric-kun..." Jaku complained.

"Jaku...You still haven't told me yet..."

"Hm? Told you what?"

"With your power, why didn't you become a vasto lorde? And about the hollow king..."

"Hm? Why would I know about that kind of stuff? I'm just a kid," Jaku teased.

"I want to know now. You were the one who set me on this path, yet you haven't told me anything yet!"

"The reason why is because...you are a spoiled brat."

Aedric suddenly drew his blade in anger and swung it towards Jaku's neck. However, he stopped just before hitting him.

"...Why do you hesitate? Is it because you know that if you kill me, you'll never know about the secrets of the hollow king? Or...is it because you know that you can't kill your sensei?"

Frustrated, Aedric removed his zanpakuto and sheathed it.

"I grow tired of your games, Jaku," he warned.

"Don't worry Aedric-kun. Once this is all over, I'll tell you everything. But for now, it's past my bedtime!"

And with that, Jaku ran out of the room. Aedric chose to ignore him and continued gazing at the moon.

For those interested, you can see some pictures of the characters in this story on KyokoKitten's deviantart page. At the moment, there are several pictures of Yuki, one picture of Shinta and Yuki and a picture of Aedric. She also said that she eventually plans to draw the other eight arrancar at some point. /plug


	11. Black Cat

"Okay, before we begin your training, I'd like to see the full abilities of your zanpakuto," Urahara said. Shinta nodded and unsheathed his blade.

"Blossom, Kurohana."

The blade in Shinta's hand disappeared and reformed into its shield form. The shield itself floated a few feet behind him.

"Kurohana's power is the ability to nullify spiritual power. When it's in this form, it can act like a shield and stop any form of spiritual attack. I can control the shield to float around me, so long as it's at least four feet around me. As such, I can separate the blades and fire them off at high speeds. However, I cannot control them once they are more than four feet away. I'm not...really used to fighting like that so instead..."

One of the blades then separated from the shield and floated towards Shinta's hand. Once he grasped it, blood began to flow from his hand.

"I prefer to fight like this since I am better at close range combat. Because of Kurohana's spiritual nullification ability, my blade will ignore any sort of spiritual defense that my opponent may have. It doesn't matter how strong they are, my blades will cut them. As an added effect, if my blades are implanted into an opponent for at least four seconds, Kurohana's nullification ability will force their own spiritual energy to destroy them from the inside," Shinta took a deep breath, "I think that's about it."

"Um, doesn't it hurt to hold those blades like that?"

"...A little. I've gotten used to it by now."

"I see. Well, I guess the best method would be to test your abilities and see how strong you are. Then we can figure things out from there."

Urahara then clapped his hands.

"Are you ready?"

Shinta nodded and rushed towards Urahara. As Shinta swung his blade, Urahara lazily parried the attack and tossed him off to the side. Shinta hopped on one foot a few times and resumed his battle stance.

"You need to work on your fighting stance. You also shouldn't have trouble with your balance in the middle of a fight."

Shinta then attacked in a flurry of blows, of which Urahara began to easily parry each attack.

"Your attacks are easy to follow and are predictable. You said that you can attack with your other blades, right?"

"But I'm not used to-"

"Then get used to it. You need to learn how to use your zanpakuto to its fullest ability and take every advantage that you can get. You need to learn how to attack in unexpected ways and catch your opponents off guard."

Urahara then wrapped his leg around Shinta's and tripped him.

"He's got a point there-nya," Kurohana chimed in. She then stepped onto Shinta's chest to prevent him from getting up.

"If you want to fight against Xzayvion Sitruk, you will have to learn to use me the way that I'm supposed to be used-nya."

"...I don't care if I use you correctly, I'll get stronger the way I decided to."

"You're so stubborn! Neko Cut!!"

"Gah!"

Kurohana began frantically swiping her claws at Shinta's face.

"If you don't learn to use me the way I'm intended to be used, then you'll nyaver defeat him-nya."

Shinta quickly pushed Kurohana off of him.

"I've done fine up until now, what's listening to you going to change?"

"Y-you're so cruel-nya!" Kurohana cried. As she fell to her hands and knees, a lone spotlight shone upon her.

"My master's cruelness

It makes my stomach grumble

I want tuna-nya."

"...Where did that spotlight come from? And what's with the sudden haiku?"

"Murakami-kun, may I ask you something?" Urahara suddenly spoke up.

"Huh? Oh, sure."

"Just right now, were you speaking with your zanpakuto?"

"Yeah, of course. You mean...you can't see her?"

"Of course he can't-nya. You aren't skilled enough to materialize me completely yet. Didn't you pay attention in school?"

"O-of course I did! I graduated didn't I?"

"Oh? Then why did you fail the exams twice then-nya?" Kurohana snickered.

"You little-"

"Murakami-kun, I have an idea that will help your situation. At this moment, it seems like you are subconsciously materializing the soul of your zanpakuto. In the future, you may one day be able to materialize it completely. But in the meantime, I have a way to force it to materialize right now."

"So...what will that do for me?"

"You...didn't pay much attention in class, did you?"

"I-I did! I did pay attention!"

"Tell him how you failed twice-nya!"

"Shut up!"

"Well, if we materialize it completely, then it will be able to train you instead."

"But...why would-"

"By the looks of things, you and your zanpakuto are out of sync. If you train together, then you'll both become stronger," Urahara explained, "Also, if you manage to force the soul of your zanpakuto to submit to you, you could learn to use bankai."

"B-bankai?! Seriously?!"

"That was a joke, Shinta. You are a long ways away from learning bankai-nya."

"If I can learn bankai, then I'll easily be able to defeat Xzayvion!"

"Whoa! Did you even listen to me-nya?!"

"Urahara-san, let's do it!"

"Alright then, just let me get things set up."

"Ah! Don't ignyore me-nya!" Kurohana shouted.

As Kurohana continued to object, Urahara set up a strange humanoid looking object.

"All you have to do is stab your zanpakuto into this tenshintai and you're good to go."

"H-hey, Shinta! Don't you dare stab me into that thing! You'll regret it-nya!"

Shinta ignored Kurohana's warning and went ahead with stabbing one of the blades into the tenshintai. The blades shattered as a bright light enveloped the area. Once the light was gone, Shinta looked around.

"Huh? Where is-"

Looking down, Shinta saw Kurohana looking up at him with a very irritated look on her face.

"Shonekoken!!'

"Augh!"

Kurohana's uppercut connected with Shinta's jaw and sent him to the ground.

"Shinta! When a girl says nyo, she means nyo-nya!" she yelled at him.

"Now now, there's no need to be angry," Urahara said calmly. Kurohana then glared at him.

"You! This is all your fault-nya! Because of you, nyow Shinta will nyaver stop bothering me about bankai-nya!"

"Just give me a moment and I'll explain myself. Murakami-kun, is it alright if I borrow her for a moment?"

"S-sure. Go ahead..." Shinta answered while still trying to get back up.

"Okay now listen, this is the kind of training that Murakami-kun needs the most. In order to get stronger, he needs to get more in sync with you. You know that more than anyone else."

"Well...That is true..."

"I don't expect him to get you to submit to him; I only used the possibility of bankai as a way to get him more motivated. All you have to do is come up with some sort of impossible task. Murakami-kun will get the training he needs and you won't have to worry about him anymore."

"I like the way you think-nya."

Satisfied, Kurohana walked away from him.

"Alright, I've changed my mind. If you can force me into submission, I'll teach you bankai-nya."

"R-really?!" Shinta asked excitedly.

"BUT, only on one condition. You must use me the way I'm supposed to be used from nyow on, understand?"

"Yes! Of course!"

"Nya nya nya...I should have done this ages ago."

"What was that?"

"Nyathing! Nyow for your training..." Kurohana paused for a moment. And at that moment, a great idea came into her head.

"Okay Shinta, I'll submit to you if you manage to get my collar!" she proclaimed. Shinta gave her a strange look.

"...You have a collar under there?" he asked. Most of Kurohana's body was either covered in a robe or in blanketed in shadow.

"Of course I do-nya! It's gold and shiny and sparkly and...Well, that's besides the point-nya! You have one week to get my collar. You may use the blades as you please to try and defeat me."

"Uh, if you go past three days-" Urahara started. At that moment, Kurohana pulled a scythe out of nowhere and pointed it towards him.

"We're going for one week. Any problems with that, Mr. Sandal Hat-nya?"

"N-no problems..." Urahara backed off. Kurohana then pointed her scythe towards Shinta.

"And if you don't take this seriously...I'll kill ya-nya!"

"D-don't joke about that!" Shinta complained.

"Okay! Here I come-nya!" Kurohana shouted as she rushed towards Shinta.

* * *

"G-give...it back..." Yuki moaned in her sleep. Hisagi drew in closer as she tossed and turned.

"She must be having a nightmare...Hey! Captain! Wake up!"

"NO!! That's my ice cream!" Yuki screamed. She then shot herself out of her bed; smacking Hisagi in the process.

"Huh? Where am...?" she started. After glancing around her room, she noticed Hisagi lying on the floor.

"Shuuhei! When did you get here and...why are you on my floor?"

Hisagi groaned as he slowly got back up.

"I got her about three days ago, you've asleep since then," he explained.

"Three days?! W-where are the others? And Soul Society, what happened?"

"Calm down, everyone is fine. Matsumoto just went out and Renji and Murakami left a few days ago to train. As for Soul Society, one of the arrancar was killed and another was captured. Many Shinigami were killed in battle and a few of the lieutenants and captains were badly injured. From what I know, everything is alright now."

"Okay, good," Yuki sighed in relief.

"This might not be the best time, but head captain Yamamoto would like to hear your report as soon as possible."

"Yeah, just give me a moment to get ready."

Hisagi quickly left the room while Yuki changed clothes. Afterwards, the two entered another room with a large monitor. Yuki flipped a switch and Yamamoto showed up onto the screen.

"Captain Hitsugaya Yuki, I see that you are well," he greeted her.

"Yes, head captain. As you know, two arrancar attacked the human world three days ago. The one we fought called himself Xzayvion while the one Kurosaki Ichigo fought called herself Dainora. Although we fought, both of them retreated once another arrancar showed up. According to Shuuhei, Xzayvion told Murakami Shinta that they would return to the human world five days from now."

"Can this Xzayvion be trusted?"

"I'm not sure...He seemed to be openly defiant of Aedric and didn't care about the consequences. He also said something about a full moon."

"In our battle, Aedric Nat mentioned that his powers were similar to the phases of the moon. If a full moon is in the next five days, then that will be when he attacks. I'll ask captain Kurotsuchi to question the captured arrancar once more to verify this information."

"Head captain, have you found out what the arrancar are up to?"

"Indeed. According to captain Kurotsuchi, they plan to perform some sort of ritual on Karakura City. This ritual will activate the spiritual leylines around the city and sacrifice the citizens all at once. Aedric plans to take all this power for himself and become some sort of hollow king."

"A...hollow king?"

"Precisely, we have no idea of what he plans to accomplish afterwards, but we cannot allow his plans to succeed. In five days, we will move the citizens of Karakura to Soul Society once again and go on an all out assault against Aedric and his arrancar. I'll call you again if anything new develops."

"Yes, I'll do the same."

And with that, the screen turned black.

"Captain, what should we do now?" Hisagi asked Yuki.

"We'll wait for Matsumoto and join Renji and Shinta in training. I refuse to be caught by surprise again."

* * *

"Haaaaaaaaah!'

Shinta swung his blade down towards Kurohana. Kurohana parried the blade with her scythe and with one quick motion; she smacked the blade out of his hand and swung horizontally. Shinta quickly jumped back and grabbed another blade from the shield.

"Again? That's nyot going to work-nya..." Kurohana warned.

Shinta ignored her and rushed towards her once again. Kurohana easily dodged his strike and used her scythe to sweep his legs from under him. As Shinta tried to get up, Kurohana placed the point of her scythe under his chin. From his position, Shinta could see her emerald green eyes staring at him.

"It's been three days so far and you have yet to improve your skills. At this rate, you'll never learn bankai!" she said in a serious tone. Shinta noticed that she was no longer talking like a cat.

"By the way Shinta, I wasn't kidding when I said that I would kill you if you didn't take this seriously. If you don't want to die, then-"

Kurohana jumped back a few feet. Immediately afterwards three blades embedded themselves into the ground. Kurohana then swung her scythe towards Shinta, only to be stopped by four blades made like a small shield.

"Hanabira Dansu."

All twenty of the blades then started swirling around around Shinta like a tornado. Kurohana quickly backed off and smiled.

"Nya nya nya...I see that you are finyally learning."

The blades slowly stopped spinning and reformed into the shield.

"I'm starting to get the hang of this..." Shinta commented.

"Well, you should. After all, that's the way that I'm supposed to be used-nya."

"Well, regardless of how this ends up, I'll be cutting of that collar of yours with a blade in my hands!"

"...If you say so-nya."

The two of them then rushed towards each other for their next assault.

* * *

Shonekoken means Flying Cat Fist (And yes, this was a Street Fighter joke for those who got it)

Hanabira Dansu means Petal Dance


	12. Arrival

Far, far in the basement levels of Las Noches, a laid slumped over. Her arms were chained to the walls while her legs were chained to the floor. She wore a white sweat shirt, jeans and black shoes. Her broken mask wrapped around her neck like a collar. Her long purple hair draped itself over the entirety of her face.

-Creeeeeak-

The figure lifted her face at the sudden noise.

"...Who's there?" she asked.

"Ah! You don't look so well Faedyn-chan!" a child-like voice spoke.

"Jaku...It's been a quite a while. So tell me, what brings..." she paused for a moment and began sniffing the air, "You...you're not the real one, are you?"

"Whoa! You can still notice that even without your eyes? You're as impressive as always, Faedyn-chan!"

"My eyes...Is that bitch who took them still alive?"

"Of course, Tusnelda-chan is one of the strongest arrancar we have."

"That name...It still fills me with rage even now...So, what brings you down here, Jaku? Did you come here to mock me for my stupidity?"

"No, no, nothing like that. I've come to tell you that Ansel and Jacint have been killed and Kiauna has been captured. We need you to join us once again."

A shrill laughter filled the room.

"You expect me to submit to Aedric again?! Now, why would I do that?"

"We need more people to activate the sigils. Since Aedric-kun will need to participate in the ritual, that means that you may get your chance to claim the power for yourself."

Faedyn immediately stopped laughing.

"...What?"

"At the same time, you might be able to get your revenge on Tusnelda-chan."

"...And what do you hope to gain in all this? I thought you favored Aedric because he fought Yamamoto to a draw. Don't you want him to become the new king?"

"Well, to me it doesn't matter who gains all that power. I'd rather increase my odds at winning by have multiple candidates. Makes sense, doesn't it?"

"...Winning? What are you talking about?"

"Ooooh, riiiiiight. I've never told you or Aedric-kun about that...I guess I'll tell whoever wins then I guess!"

"...You're still not making any sense to me..."

"Oh that's alright. All you need to know is that either of you two just needs to take the power for yourselves so that you can become more powerful than the current king. Since you are a vasto lorde too, that shouldn't be too difficult."

"I have a feeling that I'm being used...But I'd rather not rot in this dungeon for all eternity! Free me Jaku! Undo these chains!"

"Yay! I was hoping you'd join us! Um...just make sure you arrive while Aedric-kun is busy. I wouldn't want him to kill you as soon as you arrive."

* * *

Shinta slowly opened his eyes as the sunlight that streamed through his window beamed into his face. He groaned loudly as he lifted his blanket over his head. And as soon as he covered himself, he immediately threw the blanket off of himself and looked around. He was now back at the apartment. But when...

"Hey, you're finally up."  
Shinta looked up to see Renji leaning in his doorway.

"Abarai! When did we...?"

"You fell unconscious last night after your training. We all ended up having to drag you back here. I'm just glad that you woke up before the battle started."  
"The battle...is that today?!"

"Right. We have already finished making the preparations. In a few hours, all the humans and souls in Karakura will be transferred to Soul Society. All we have to do until then is wait for Aedric to arrive."

"Abarai...Do you think...I'll be able to fight?" Shinta asked.

"Urahara told us that you had been training with your zanpakuto. You don't seem to be that much different to me, but he said that you had been training for a week straight. If you want to fight then I'm not going to stop you."

"Thanks, Abarai."

"Yeah, yeah. So tell me, how much stronger have you gotten? Your reiatsu seems to have increased by quite a bit, but it's nowhere near the level for fighting against those arrancar."

"Well...Kurohana and I have basically become more in sync with each other. There really isn't much more to it than that," Shinta explained.

"So...you can use those blades better then?"

"Pretty much. But, I still need more training."

-Growl-

Renji laughed as Shinta embarrassedly covered his stomach.

"Good timing. Yuki was just talking about going to that WcDonalds place again. We could go there quickly and join up with the rest of Soul Society afterwards."

"Yeah, sounds good."  
As Renji left the room, Shinta looked over towards his zanpakuto.

"I hope you're ready, Kurohana. You've taught me so much. Now, together, we'll defeat Xzayvion!"

* * *

Meanwhile at the park stood Ichigo, Chad, Orihime, and Ishida. The four of them stood silently as if waiting for something. After a long silence, Orihime finally spoke up.

"So...Tonight's the night, huh? The night of the full moon..."

"That's what we were told. Personally, this feels like a trap to me," Chad spoke.

"The big question is will they come? It looks like a storm is coming in," Ishida commented while looking towards the sky. Ichigo, however, remained silent. He felt like he didn't have anything else to add to their conversation.

"Ah! It's Kuchiki-san!" Orihime suddenly shouted. Sure enough, Rukia was running straight towards them. Once she arrived, she began breathing heavily.

"Hah...Hah...Sorry...I'm late..." she apologized.

"Is everything almost ready?" Ichigo asked her.

"Yes, in a few hours, every human and soul will be temporarily transferred to Soul Society. Once the transfer is complete, all available shinigami will come here and prepare for Aedric's arrival."

"A-all of them?! Do we really need that many shinigami here?" Ishida asked.

"When the first arrancar attacked Soul Society, he brought with him a large army of hollows. We believe that there is no reason to doubt that Aedric will do the same here. We'll need all the help that we can get if we want to succeed."

"I see...So tell us, do we know how Aedric's ritual works?"

"We have an idea...Take a look at this..." Rukia said as she pulled out her notebook. On the first page was a picture of a few buildings with eight circles around them, each marked as one through eight.

"According to the arrancar that we captured, there are eight points around Karakura City. Once these points are activated..."

Rukia flipped the page to show a scene of several ghost-like rabbits and bears with xs in their eyes.

"Everybody in the city will die. Afterwards..."

The last page had a bear wearing a haori with a -1 on it with a shiny crown on its head. All around this bear were the rabbits and bears from the previous page.

"All the souls in the city will then be absorbed by whoever stands at the center of the city. Aedric plans to use these souls to gain enough power to become a hollow king. Any questions so far?"

"...Why do you keep showing us those crappy drawings? They only make things more confu-"

Before Ichigo could finish, Rukia slammed her knee into his face and knocked him to the ground.

"That has nothing to do with this!" she yelled as she began stomping on him.

"Ah! K-Kuchiki-san! You're going to kill Kurosaki-kun if you keep stomping on him like that!" Orihime shouted.

"Oh...Sorry about that."

Rukia ceased stomping on Ichigo and Ichigo slowly stood back up.

"Alright, in all seriousness, do we know how these points are activated?" he asked.

"...Unfortunately no. All we know is that Aedric's arrancar are going to head to those points the second they arrive. All we have to do is stop them before they can do anything. Since they will all be separated, they should be easier to defeat."

"A few hours…I guess we've done as much as we can do. There is no turning back now."

* * *

Elsewhere on the other side of town, Yuki and Shinta began eating their burgers. Renji and Matsumoto were outside of the shop and the workers had been transferred to Soul Society just moments ago. This left the two of them all alone in the shop. Shinta continued to watch in awe as Yuki shoveled down her 4th Big Wac. He fought the urge to comment on her eating habits; he knows he would die if he tried. Yuki suddenly looked up at him.

"...What are you staring at?"

"Oh! Uh, nothing! I was...just thinking to myself."

"...If you say so."

Yuki starting gulping down her drink. Once she was finished, she glanced back at Shinta.

"So tell me, how did your training go?" she asked.

"Oh, um, it went okay, I guess. I'm much better at using Kurohana now, but I could still use more training."

"So you think you're good enough to fight with us?"

"Of course! I'm definitely ready!" Shinta shouted while standing up.

"Okay, okay! You can sit down now," Yuki laughed. Shinta embarrassedly sinked back into his chair.

"Oh right...Um, Yuki? Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"During the battle with Xzayvion...What was that mask? What happened to you?"

"...?! You...saw that?" Yuki turned away uncomfortablely.

"Yeah...Matsumoto told me that Aizen did something to you. Please...I want to know what happened to you."

Yuki continued to look away from Shinta. After a few moments, she took a deep breath.

"Alright...I guess it's only fair that I tell you...Well, during the war with Aizen, I attempted to sneak into Las Noches while Ichigo and the others kept Aizen's arrancar busy. However...I was captured. Aizen injected me with...something. Ever since then, I would occasionally go unconscious in a battle and wake up days afterwards. And now my 'other self' has been making her presence know and she is trying to take over my body..."

"What?! That's...We have to do something!"

"I...don't want to get anyone else involved..."

"...What are you saying?"

"I can take care of this myself. I won't let her take over again, so don't worry," Yuki smiled weakly. Shinta immediately shook his head.

"No...I...want to help you."

"Shinta...that's very sweet of you, but I can-"

"Yuki...Two weeks ago you told me that you would help me find Xzayvion. Even though he found us, you promised me that you would help me because we are friends. And now, I want to return your kindness. I want to help you with this."

"Shinta...I..."

Suddenly a huge pressure could be felt from all around them. A pressure so powerful that both Shinta and Yuki had trouble breathing. Renji immediately slammed the door open.

"You guys! They're here!"

* * *

High above Karakura, six figures floated as they gazed down upon the city.

"Woooooooooooow! Look at all the shinigami!" Jaku marveled.

"It looks like this will make our job much easier," Aedric commented, "I believe a thanks is in order, Xzayvion."

"Tch! I don't need thanks from the likes of you..." Xzayvion grumbled.

"Oh? What's wrong Xzayvion? You feel as if you did something wrong?" Tusnelda mocked.

"...Why don't you go screw yourself?"

"Ha! Your insults mean nothing to me."

"Hm? You seem to be in a good mood today, Tusnelda-chan," Jaku piped up.

"Yes, not even you could piss me off today. After all, I get to kill as many shinigami as I wish and Aedric-sama gets to ascend to godhood. This night couldn't be more wonderful!"

-Rumble-

The rumble of thunder could be heard from far away.

"...As you were saying? Aedric-sama, will this storm affect us in anyway," Dainora asked.

"You have too little faith in me, Dainora. This storm will blow over soon enough and the glorious moon shall shine down upon us. I'm sure that I can manage until then. Now then, all of you, head to your sigils and kill any shinigami that comes near you! Once your sigil is activated, feel free to do as you wish."

And with that, Xzayvion, Dainora, Tusnelda and Txaran took off.

"Jaku...Why are you still here?"

"Oh...I just wanted to ask a few questions is all. Do you mind?"

"...Make it quick."

"I'll just get right to the point then. Um, how are we going to activate the other sigils? We are short three people."

"I have gathered several strong arrancar from Aizen's old faction to take care of Jacint and Ansel's sigils. They may not be as powerful as us, but they'll serve their purposes."

"And for Kiauna's sigil?"

"I'll take care of that one myself. Yamamoto Genryusai-Shigekuni will come to me if I go there," he smiled darkly, "Finally...My chance to show him how powerless the shinigami truly are has come!"

Aedric then grabbed his zanpakuto and slashed twice in rapid succession. Once he sheathed his blade, large cracked formed into the sky.

"My hollows! Your time has come! It is time to show the shinigami that the hollows are superior to them in every way! Now, descend upon this city and devour all that you see! All who stand before us will die! And I, Aedric Nat, shall become your new king!"

The sky shattered into thousands upon thousands of pieces. Hollows then began to swarm out of the dimensional rift and descended upon the city.

"Okay then! I'll just leave you to your fun, Aedric-kun," Jaku said happily as he took off. As he flew towards his destination a dark smile appeared upon his face.

"Now then...Let's see which of my chosen candidates will gain that power. I just hope that Aedric-kun won't be too mad at me for bringing her here.

* * *

That's it for this chapter. Sorry it took so long to write, a lot of crap had popped up all at once and I was pretty busy. Anyways, since I was bored, I actually drew those Rukia drawings for all your entertainment. Once I can get them scanned in, I post the links on my profile page.


	13. A Chance Meeting

-Whoosh-

"Gah...ah!"

-Whoosh-

"Kyahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

Tusnelda continued cutting down all the shinigami that came near her. As she struck them, she made sure to not kill them. After all, where's the fun in killing your opponents so easily?

-Whoosh-

"Ah...G-ah..."

Another shinigami fell after Tusnelda removed on of his legs. She gazed around the battlefield of crippled shinigami and smiled.

"Now then...which of you wants to play first?" she asked. She then noticed a female shinigami who was trying to crawl away with what was left of her arm. Tusnelda walked towards her and quickly picked her up by her neck.

"Not so fast there. Hmm...With all that blood splattered on your body, you look kind of cute. But tell me, do you think that you're cuter than me?"

The girl didn't answer. She knew that she would be killed regardless of what she said.

"...You don't want to talk, huh?" Well, that's fine. But I'm surprised that you're not begging for your life. Most people in your situation do that, you know."

"...I...won't b-beg for m-mercy...because I-I-I know...that you're g-going...to k-kill us anyway..." the girl spoke.

"Ha...Smart girl. You're right, it doesn't matter what any of you say to me, I'm gonna-"

"Scatter, Senbonzakura."

Tusnelda immediately threw the girl and leapt backwards, barely dodging the blade shards.

"Ha! You didn't think that you would hit me with that again now did you?"

Tusnelda shouted towards Byakuya.

"You didn't seem so bright the last time so I figured that you would fall for it a second time," Byakuya explained.

"...Your insults mean nothing to me. This is the greatest day of my life! And..."

Tusnelda pointed her sword towards Byakuya.

"It just got better. No one is going to interfere with us now. This time, I'll kill you!"

Byakuya quickly vanished from her view and appeared behind her.

"...You talk too much."

Byakuya swung his blade quickly in an effort to end this quickly. Tusnelda barely managed to deflect the blade and leapt backwards.

"Tch! A flash step...just my luck..." she muttered.

Tusnelda then closed the distance between the two and began slashing wildly. Although these attacks were wild and predictable, they were very fast. However, Byakuya had little trouble avoiding them.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why can't I hit you?!" she screamed while slamming her sword to the ground. Byakuya quickly sidestepped the attack and countered. In response, Tusnelda swung her blade in an upwards arc and tilted her head just enough to dodge Byakuya's strike. With a quick flash step, Byakuya backed up several meters, dodging her attack completely. Before Tusnelda could continue her assault, she noticed several strands of red hair floating through the air. Suddenly, her spiked pigtail fell down her face.

"You are really starting to piss me off!"

As she said that, Tusnelda outstretched two fingers towards Byakuya.

"Cero!"

Byakuya easily avoided the attack by flash stepping behind Tusnelda. But just as he attacked her, she quickly leapt into the air. She held her sword into the air and came down for a finishing blow.

"Die!"

"Scatter, Senbonzakura."

Tusnelda's eyes widened as Byakuya backed up and the blade shards came towards her. There was no way to dodge it.

-Slit slit slit-

Tusnelda cried in pain as her body was cut up. Although she had cuts all over her body and she was constantly bleeding, she was still alive. Her eyes slowly began to turn pure red as she glared at him.

"Kuh...You've ruined my good mood. Now I have **no choice but to cut you up until you are no longer recognizable! And while you lie there writhing in pain, you will beg for my mercy! And I, I will-gah!**"

While she was talking, Byakuya flash stepped right before Tusnelda and stabbed her in the chest.

"As I said before, you talk too much," he stated. Suddenly, Tusnelda grabbed his arm tightly and pulled Byakuya's zanpakuto deeper into her body. And, with a large grin, she gazed down at her reflection in her own zanpakuto.

"**Live...in...vain...Pavo Real!**"

Before he could get away, Byakuya was slashed by ten scythe-like tails. Once Tusnelda loosened her grip, Byakuya quickly backed away.

And then, with a loud yell, Tusnelda tore Byakuya's zanpakuto out of her body and threw it down the street.

"**There! Without your sword you are nothing!**" she yelled. Tusnelda then rushed towards the sword less Byakuya.

"...I don't need my zanpakuto to defeat the likes of you."

Byakuya slowly lifted his hand and pointed towards the charging Tusnelda.

"Hadou no. 4, Byakurai."

* * *

Elsewhere, Yamamoto and several other shinigami ran across the tops of buildings trying to reach on of the points as quickly as possible. A feeling a dread slowly increased as they drew closer and closer to the point. Everybody then stopped and an insanely powerful reiatsu filled the area. This reiatsu was so powerful that the other shinigami immediately fell to the ground and began struggling to breathe. There was no mistake as to who this reiatsu belonged to. Yamamoto gazed up towards the sky to see Aedric slowly falling towards them.

"Aedric Nat..." Yamamoto said in a voice filled with enmity. Aedric, on the other hand, grinned as if he had been reunited with a friend that he had not seen in ages.

"It's been a long time, Yamamoto-Genryusai Shigekuni," Aedric greeted him, "I'm sure by this point that you know of what I am planning to do."

"Indeed. But we have taken measures to prevent you from killing humans."

"Yes, I've seen that. However, you are mistaken into thinking that that will hinder my plans. In fact, you shinigami have made things even easier for me. By sacrificing all the shinigami and hollows in this city, I'll become even more powerful than originally planned."

"So you would sacrifice your own just to gain power...You are truly a monster..."

"Hmph! They are my servants; they all serve me until their deaths. And what greater honor is there but to become one with their new king?"

"A king exists to protect his people, not use them for his own personal gain!"

Aedric laughed upon hearing this.

"Ha...You forget how different of a place Hueco Mundo is from Soul Society. In Hueco Mundo, the sacrifice of the weak to feed the strong has always been the rule. It makes no difference as to where we are, we follow that rule to our deaths."

Yamamoto then looked at his subordinates. They were all on the ground, gasping for air.

"Aedric, this fight is between you and me. Let them leave."

"...You are right. I have no interest in this trash. However...it seems as if they are having a little trouble standing," Aedric grinned, "I'll...help them out a little."

Aedric's reiatsu suddenly skyrocketed. The sheer force of his spiritual power was like a typhoon. Yamamoto managed to stay his ground, yet the other shinigami were blown far away. Once they were gone, the winds quieted.

"Aedric! There was no need for that!"

"...What? It's your own fault for bringing them with you. You of all people should have known what would happen."

"Then I see that the time for talk is over. Aedric Nat, prepare yourself! All things in the universe, turn to ashes, Ryujin Jakka!"

Large flames quickly covered the building. As the flames drew close to him, Aedric spread his arms outward as if to welcome them. The sheer heat of the flames quickly disintrigated Aedric's gi and haori, revealing a torso covered in scars and burns from a battle long ago.

"I see no reason to hold back against you."

Aedric drew his glass blade and held it up to his forehead.

"Reflect their true desires, Vidrio Luna."

Aedric's appearance changed completely. Instead of one bone crescent moon over one of his eyes, he now had several. One over his other eye, two connected to the ones around his eyes while pointing in opposite directions, one of his forehead, two around his mouth, and one connected to his chin. They were all connected together, forming a freaky mask. His hair now stood up and was messily wild. His entire body was covered in a reflective kind of armor with curved blades jolting out of his shoulders, elbows, and knees. He also still held his zanpakuto.

"**Now then, let's begin the climax of our story,**" Aedric smiled.

The two stood there staring at each other.

-**BOOOOOOOOOOOM**-

Suddenly, a huge explosion enveloped the building the two were standing on as their battle began.

* * *

"Alright guys, X-formation!" an arrancar shouted. He was toughly built and his mask looked like a crown. Three others appeared beside him and went into their simple formation. Of their masks, one had glasses, one had a necklace, and one looked like he had a pig's nose. (He was also very fat) The four then rushed towards Ichigo, Rukia, Chad, Orihime, and Ishida. Chad punched the fat one, Ishida fired arrows at the one with glasses, and Rukia fired a kidou spell at the one with the necklace. And just as Ichigo was about to slash the one with the crown...

"Whoa! Wait! Time out!" he shouted.

"Wait...What?" Ichigo stood dumbfounded.

"J-just give us a moment, okay?"

The four then grouped around each other and began discussing their battle plan.

"W-what do we do now, Leader?" the fat one asked.

"Calm down, Porky. These guys are really tough...Glasses! What happened there? I thought that the X-formation was invincible."

Glasses shrugged in response.

"Ah! I see...That explains everything!" Leader proclaimed.

"...What are you talking about? He didn't even say anything..." Ichigo commented.

"Hey! I'll have you know that Glasses is so smart that he never needs to say anything. I mean, just look at him! He looks so smart!"

In actuality, Glasses was about as smart as the others in his group. He's just too lazy to ever say anything.

"A-and besides, stop listening in on our top secret conversation!"

Leader then sat back down with his group.

"Oh god! They're listening in to our top secret conversation! What do we do now?!"

"Leader, let's just try to separate them and pick them off one by one," the one with the necklace suggested.

"No way, Crazy! That plan is too crazy! We'll just stick with the formations for now..."

The four then separated and faced their opponents.

"Bwahahaha! Aedric-sama trusted us to guard this spot so we shall not fail! You will fall to the powers of Leader!"

"Porky!"

"Crazy!"

And Glasses merely waved.

"...Are those seriously your real names?"

"Ah...no...You see, we don't knowhow to pronounce our names so we just gave each other nicknames," Leader explained.

"Then...what makes him Crazy? He seems pretty normal to me."

"Oh...that..." Leader shuddered, "Well...While we were still working with Aizen-sama, we had to work on a project. And Crazy...he...starting running around with scissors!"

The others shuddered at the memory.

"We all yelled 'What are you doing?! That's crazy!' And so, we call him Crazy."

"...That's not crazy, that's just plain stupid!"

"Ah! He's yelling at us!" Porky cried. Glasses sneezed in response.

"You're right Glasses! We need a new plan."

The four grouped together again as everyone else just stared at them.

"They're...idiots..." Ishida commented.

"You think so? I think they're kind of funny," Orihime responded.

"They seem pretty harmless...What should we do?" Rukia asked.

"...Why do we always get stuck with the weird ones...?" Ichigo sighed.

"Okay break!"

The four faced their opponents yet again.

"Now that we have that cleared up...Everyone! X-formation!"

"A-again?!"  
The four once again charged in their simple formation. Once they were about halfway towards Ichigo and the others, a dark figure leapt out of the trees. And in a split second, the figure landed behind the four. Glasses, Porky and Crazy fell to the ground and disappeared. Leader, however, barely stood. He clutched his hand over his stomach to prevent his guts from spilling out.

"W-who's there?!" he called out to the figure. The figure turned towards him, it was Faedyn.

"Y-you?! B-but Aizen-sama...locked you away!"  
"Aizen is dead, just accept it. There is no need to call that fool 'sama' anymore."

"T-then...why...?"

"Did I kill them? You four were just in the way, that's all. But I left you alive for just one purpose...Where is Tusnelda Faraye?"

"I-I...don't..."

He never got to finish his sentence. In one quick motion, Faedyn cut off Leader's head.

"Then you are useless..." she said coldly.

"Who are...?" Ichigo started. Faedyn immediately looked up and sniffed the air.

"So there were others here. I must be losing my touch," she muttered, "Let's see...Two shinigami and three humans. It's not much, but I'll take it."

Faedyn took a few steps forwards and drew her blade.

"I am the vasto lorde, Faedyn Quartz."

"V-vasto lorde?!"

Everyone gasped. Faedyn smiled upon hearing this reaction.

"That's right! Now, be a nice bunch and just die for me, okay?"

* * *

It's probably obvious but Aedric's Vidrio Luna translates to Glass Moon.


	14. Serenade of the Black Flower

Well, since there is no Bleach this week, here the next chapter a little early just for you all.

* * *

Deep within the shopping center, three figures ran towards their destination. Those three were Hitsugaya Yuki, Hisagi Shuuhei, and Murakami Shinta. Their goal was the sigil that was nearby. As they ran through the streets, the sky began to grow darker. If it were not for the street lights or the large fire far in the distance, the city would be pitch black. As the three hurried, three hollows appeared out of nowhere in an attempt to bar their path.

"Get out of our way!" Yuki yelled while swinging Korihoshi. With two swings two of the hollows fell. Before the third could react, Hisagi struck it down from behind. As if nothing had happened, the three continued, giving Shinta no time to marvel at their strength.

Soon afterwards, the three arrived at their destination, a large intersection in the center of the shopping center. And sure enough, standing in the center of it all was a lone arrancar. The so-called 'Puppet Master' Xzayvion Sitruk.

"Hey, long time no see, chibi captain. What a coincidence to bump into you again. So tell me, how's your 'other self' doing?"

Yuki clenched her fists and glared at the man.

"Whoa, are you angry at me? Ha! You're too easy," Xzayvion laughed, "But, I am surprised to see you again. I guess I get at least one more bout of freedom before this night is over."  
"What do you mean?" Yuki asked him.

"For some bullshit reason, Aedric believes that all hollows exist to serve him. As his 'servants' our choice is simple; either we choose to serve him until we die or we die anyways. None of us have any real freedoms."

"Then if you feel that way, you should just rebel against him and-"

Yuki was abruptly cut off by Xzayvion's laughter. As he laughed, a flash of lightning flashed by. The roar of thunder that quickly followed drowned out his crazed laughter.

"You severely underestimate Aedric. The man forced two vasto lordes under his command and kill them when they tried to rebel. Even if the rest of us tried to fight him, we would all die horribly. I mean, the man can paralyze us just by raising his reiatsu; there is literally nothing we can do about it. But...it's not like its all bad..."

And with another flash of lightning, the heavy rain finally began to fall onto the city.

"I don't care what Aedric plans to do once he gains all that power, all I know is that all of you shinigami are going to die in the process. Once all eight of these sigils are activated, it'll be lights out for you."

"We won't let that happen! We'll kill you here and stop you from activating it!"

"Heh...I'd like to see you try!"

As Yuki and Hisagi prepared themselves for battle, Shinta stepped forward and spread his arms out as if to block their path.

"You two hurry on to the next point...I'll take care of him," he said calmly.

"W-what?! Are you mad?!" Hisagi yelled.

"That's right! We can all work together to defeat him!" Yuki added.

"We have no time for that. We have no idea how they plan to activate these points or how long it takes to do so. Our best bet is to stop them by getting to each point as quickly as possible," he explained.

"But this is suicide! No matter how you look at it, you'll die if you fight him alone!"

"This is my battle. My whole life has led up to this point so I won't die easily."

"...Dammit! Why do you have to be so stubborn?" Yuki took a deep breath, "Shuuhei! We're leaving!"

"C-captain?! But this-"

"That's an order! Besides, he won't change his mind, regardless of what we say..."

Hisagi gritted his teeth in anger. He didn't want to leave Shinta alone, but he had no choice.

"...I'll go on ahead," he said solemnly before he took off.

"...Thank you." Shinta said.

Yuki continued to glare at Shinta.

"...If you die, I'll never forgive you."

And with that, Yuki took off. Xzayvion, who had been watching this whole time suddenly, began clapping.

"Bravo! Very dramatic! But...I was kinda half-expecting you to grab the girl and kiss her. Then you would say something like 'now I can die with no regrets'" Xzayvion commented.

"W-why would I do something like that?!" Shinta blushed.

"Because it's heroic and macho. Chicks dig that kind of stuff!"

"B-but if I did that...S-she'd kill me..."

Shinta paused for a moment. After realizing how of track he just gotten, he then glared at Xzayvion.

"Whooooooooa, scaaaaaary! Well, it's kind of a pain to have to go up against a weakling but...oh well. You better provide me with at least a little bit of entertainment kid."

"My name is not kid and you better not underestimate me because I'm the one who is going to kill you!"

"You keep saying things like you are going to kill me but...do I know you? Why do you hate such a likeable guy such as me?"

"You were the one who killed me when I was a human..."

"Oh really?!" Xzayvion asked excitedly, "So how did you die? Spike room? Poison gas chamber? Did I boil you alive, cut you up, or plant an explosive in your body? C'mon man, details!"

"Y-you slowly crushed me to death! That's how!" Shinta shouted in anger. He wasn't angry at the fact that this hollow had killed him, but that there were probably hundreds of others just like him.

"Crushing? Now that was a rarely used one..."

"So...you remember me?"

"Hell no! Do you honestly think that I keep track of everybody that I killed? How pointless is that?" he laughed.

"...Fine then. If you can't remember the names of those you killed, then at least remember mine! I am 4th division, 14th seat, Murakami Shinta! And of the behalf of everyone that you killed, I will kill you in return!"

"Oh? Is that so? Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not that much interested in fighting you. I mean, if I tried, I could kill you before you even knew it. I mean, where's the fun in that?"

And with that, Xzayvion snapped his fingers. Five hollows then came out of the darkness and stood beside him.

"Dammit! Blossom, Kurohana!"

One blade appeared in Shinta's hand while the others appeared behind him in the shield form.

"Heh, I see that you know the drill. My friends here should be more than enough for you. So, please, try to at least entertain me for at least a little...?" Xzayvion paused. Looking behind Shinta he noticed that several blades were missing form his shield.

"Hey kid, where are-"

With a loud unearthly scream, the five hollows fell dead to the ground. All that was left after they vanished were five blades.

"The only thing that I'm interested in is your head, Xzayvion Sitruk!"

Each of the five blades began to move.

"Oh shi-"

The blades suddenly shot up and fired themselves towards Xzayvion. In an effort to avoid them, Xzayvion leapt up into the air. The blades then shifted directions and followed him. Shinta then dashed forward and leapt up into the air to follow him. Finally, after all his training he found a new way to fight. He could fire off Kurohana's blades towards his opponent and bright the fight into melee range. And it was this strategy that he was going to use to finally defeat him. Once Shinta reached his already preoccupied target, he swung with all his might. Xzayvion then twisted his body and dodged the attack. He grinned madly as he fell back towards the earth.

"What's wrong kid? Weren't you going to kill me?" he mocked.

Shinta growled upon hearing this. He had to prevent Xzayvion from having any room to breathe if he wanted to win. Once Xzayvion hit the ground, Shinta fired more blades towards him.

"Not this again! You're never going to hit me with such obvious attacks, you know!"

Just as he said that, the ground beneath him began to shake. Thinking quickly, Xzayvion began back flipping like crazy in an effort to dodge the blades that erupted from the ground. Once he had finally stopped, Shinta was back in his face, ready to strike him down. While Shinta was in mid-swing Xzayvion grabbed his wrist.

"Not bad. But you didn't think that-"

Xzayvion stopped as he felt that something was of. Looking towards the rainy sky he saw the remaining 19 blades falling from the sky like arrows.

"Huh...interesting. But let's see how you deal with this!"

While still holding onto Shinta's writ, Xzayvion threw him towards his own blades. Shinta then quickly controlled the blades to go around him and still fall towards the ground. During this, Xzayvion twirled his gun around and pointed it towards the air.

"Checkmate. Cero!"

Shinta then stopped the blades in midair and forced them to reform into their shield form. The shield took the cero as if it were nothing at all.

"...Tch! Just like last time...It looks like cero won't work against him," Xzayvion grumbled. Once the cero had been completely nullified, the blades separated and resumed their fall towards Xzayvion. This time, however, several of the blades changed directions to go around Xzayvion in an attempt to trap him. Xzayvion constantly twisted and turned in an attempt to dodge each blade. And to make matters worse, Shinta landed onto the ground and began to wildly swing the single blade in his hand. The strikes themselves were easy to follow but dodging proved to become more and more difficult as the blades constantly flew around him.

"Haaaaaaaaah!"

Shinta went for a diagonal strike. Xzayvion easily avoided it by sidestepping it. As he did so, Shinta dropped the blade and grabbed it with his left arm.

-Sliiiiiiit-

"G-gah!"

Slicing in the opposite direction, Shinta managed to cut Xzayvion from his lower right to his upper left. Shinta smiled at this small victory. Xzayvion however...

"THAT'S IT!!" he screamed as he kicked Shinta in the gut. Shinta went flying across the street. As he did, he controlled the blades to hit Xzayvion. However, Xzayvion immediately evaded them with a quick sonido and appeared before the flying Shinta, his arm already in a position to strike him.

-Splat-

"A-aaaaaaaah!!" Shinta screamed as Xzayvion shoved his hand into his gut. Xzayvion immediately threw him off and watched as Shinta tried to stop the blood flow.

"You are really annoying kid, you know that? Now, just lie there and die. To think that you thought that you could actually win...What nonsense is that?" Xzayvion complained while walking away. The falling rain immediately cleaned the blood on his hand.

"S-stop..." Shinta called out. Despite having a few broken ribs and his stomach impaled, he managed to stand. Even though he managed that, he looked as if he could fall at any moment. Xzayvion turned around.

"You're on your lasts legs kid. Honestly, if you move too much more you're going to end up killing yourself."

Shinta gathered his blades back towards himself.

"What was that?!"

He took a step forward. Pain immediately shot through his whole body.

"Look kid, you've lost. Just accept it. I'm happy that you can still stand but, honestly, you don't interest me anymore."  
"I...I won't...lose to...augh!"

Shinta was beginning to lose his balance.

_Shinta! Knock it off-nya!_

"K-Kurohana?"

_Shinta...As things are right nyow, you cannot beat him..._

"...That's not something I wanted to hear..."

_But...You do still have your trump card-nya._

"What?!" Shinta said in shock, "But you said..."  
_I said to only use it when you have no other choice. I think that nyow constitutes for that-nya._

"I-I see..."

* * *

Shinta quickly fired off several blades in Kurohana's direction. As she weaved in between each blade, Shinta ran towards her, ready to strike.

"I got you now!" he shouted as he swung his blade.

-Slam-

Kurohana leapt up and slammed her foot onto Shinta's face. She then leapt off and watched as Shinta fell backwards.

"Nya nya nya...Today is the last day Shinta-nya! And at the rate you are going, I guess that bankai is forever beyond your reach-nya!" she laughed. Shinta immediately got back onto his feet.

"Yeah right! I'm not going to give up that easily!"

Kurohana glanced upwards as Shinta ran towards her. Once again, he sent some blades into the sky to rain down on her.

"You really don't learn..." she sighed. With one swing of her scythe, Kurohana blew the blades away. She then readied herself for the attack that was about to come next.

"Hey, Shinta! You've done this three times already-nya. Don't you think that you should-" she paused. Shinta was nowhere to be found.

"Nya? Oi, Shinta! Where did you go-nya?"

As she looked around, she suddenly noticed a large shadow growing beneath her. She then quickly swung upwards and deflected Shinta's airborne attack.

"Nyot bad! I see that you're improving!"  
Kurohana then threw Shinta off of her. Shinta immediately readied himself.

"I'm not done yet!" he shouted as he ran straight towards her. However, Shinta immediately tripped on a rock and fell flat on his face. The blade that was in his had flew forward towards Kurohana. In response, she simply tilted her head to avoid it and let the blade run its course. Kurohana held back her laughter as she walked towards Shinta.

"Sh-Shinta...Y-you need to...to watch..."

She couldn't help it anymore. Kurohana began laughing madly as Shinta still laid on the ground. However, she failed to notice the nick in her hood caused by that last blade...or the fact that her collar was now starting to slip. As Kurohana laughed, her collar fell out of her hood and landed onto Shinta's open palm.

A dead silence. A cold wind quickly blew past the two.

"...Huh?" was all that Kurohana could say. Even Urahara, who was occasionally watching the two, started in disbelief. Shinta lifted his head to se what had just landed into his hand. It took him a few moments to realize what it was.

"Wait...Did I just win?" he asked.

"...Huh?" Kurohana repeated again. Shinta immediately leapt onto his feet and held the collar up high.

"I-I won! I finally got it!" he shouted happily as he began doing a little happy dance.

"N-nyo way...Uh, Shinta?"

"Bankai! Bankai! I get to learn bankai!"

"Oi, Shinta!"

"I. Get. To. Learn. Baaaaaaaaankaaaaaaai! Yeah!

"HEY! LISTEN TO ME WHEN I TALK TO YOU-NYA!!"

-Smack-

"Owwwww!"

Kurohana bashed Shinta in the back of the head with her scythe.

"W-what was that for?!" Shinta demanded. Kurohana took a deep breath.

"Look, I didn't do this training to teach you bankai. I did it purely to get you to learn how to use me better-nya. I'm glad to see that you have improved by a lot-nya. But...I only used bankai as a way to get you more motivated," she explained. Shinta immediately looked down.

"Oh...I see..."

"Well...I say that but...I...don't go back on my words..."

"Wait...You mean...?"

"I am so going to regret this-nya...Yes, Shinta; I'll allow you to use bankai."

"K-Kurohana..."

"However, you must remember this; you are no where near the level to use it yet. First, it takes at least ten years of training before you can at least use it in battle properly. Using it before than is a death wish. Second, maintaining your bankai takes a lot of reiatsu. At your current level, I'd be surprised if you made it to ten minutes. Any longer than that and you'll fall unconscious. Or maybe you'll drain yourself dry and just die right on the spot. Do you understand what I'm getting at?"

"You're basically saying that I shouldn't use it."

"WRONG! Neko Kiiiiiiick!"

"Gah!"

Kurohana's kick smacked Shinta in the chest, knocking him back a bit.

"What I'm saying is that you should only use it when you have nyo other options left-nya. Nyow that my work is done here, I think I'll take a little cat nyap-nya."

Kurohana then walked up to Urahara.

"I'll leave the rest to you, Mr. Sandel Hat," she said as she vanished. Urahara cleared his throat as he made his way back towards Shinta.

"Well then, let's begin the next step of your training," he said cheerfully.

* * *

Shinta reformed all 20 blades into their shield form and held it before him.

_Shinta...Don't hold back-nya!_

"I got that..."

"Hey kid! Has all that blood loss affected your mind? I thought I saw you talking to yourself back there," Xzayvion remarked.

"Xzayvion Sitruk...I told you before that I won't lose to you. And I realize now that I am not alone in this fight!"

"Oh? Well, who else is here besides you?"

"Kurohana is fighting with me," he answered. He then tossed the shield into the air.

"And that's not all..."

_Go for it._

"That's right...All my friends are here with me."

_Heh, you're pretty fast and you got a unique style._

"If I lose...then I'd be betraying their trust in me."

_It was nice knowing you!_

"And so...I'm going to fight...for their sake!"

_If you die, I'll never forgive you._

"I'm fighting to protect them! And I..."

_Nyow is the time!_

"I will..."

_Show him what you got-nya!_

"I will avenge myself and everyone else that you have killed!"

_Nyow! Say it with me!_

"_Ban...kai!_"

The blades suddenly separated. The blades then spread out in a 300 meter radius around Shinta and implanted themselves into the ground, forming a large circle.

"...Seems like everyone these days knows bankai..." Xzayvion complained. Shinta gazed at Xzayvion and slowly began to float.

"Thanatos no Kurohana."

Xzayvion held his hand out; there was no more water falling onto him. He then looked to the sky and saw that the rain was going around where the blades had implanted themselves.

"A barrier, huh? So, how's the drill go? Are you going to tell me how your bankai works and-" Xzayvion suddenly stopped as a large pressure brought him to his knees.

"I don't have time for stupid things like that; I'll just kill you now!"

Xzayvion was then tossed into the air and slammed back onto the ground. Several blades then left their posts and came down at Xzayvion. Xzayvion slowly got up, trying his hardest to combat this unknown force that was pushing him down. The blades that flew at him were much more difficult to avoid this time.

-Slit slit slit-

The blades managed to cut him, but he managed to avoid anything serious.

"Ha! Is that your best?!"

Shinta then held his hand towards Xzayvion and began to slowly close it. At the same time, Xzayvion felt an unknown force around him, and it was beginning to close in on him. Xzayvion struggled as the space around him got smaller and smaller. Just as he was curled up in a ball, the invisible walls stopped moving. He grinned upon seeing this.

"I see how this works..."

And with that, Xzayvion suddenly raised his reiatsu, forcing his invisible prison to shatter.

"I think I understand how this thing works. You can control the gravity in this barrier, correct? But, it's not exactly gravity. It's more like you are able to concentrate your own reiatsu at specific points in this barrier and crush your opponents with it. In other words, the force you give in here is only as strong as you are. Correct me if I'm wrong here."

Shinta didn't bother to answer. Xzayvion was completely right.

"Ha! I knew it! That means that this bankai of yours is pretty useless against people who are much stronger than you. And let me guess, you are using that power to stop the blood flow from your wound. I wonder...how long can you keep this up?"

"Shut up!"

Shinta forced more pressure onto Xzayvion, causing him to lean forward.

"You know what, that was not as bad as the first one. You're getting weaker, aren't you?"

"I said shut up!"

Shinta sent more blades after Xzayvion. Once again, Xzayvion was hit, but only received a few nicks and cut. Xzayvion slowly pulled his gun out.

"Let's see what else you can do. Cero!"

As the blast went towards Shinta, he gathered a few of the blades to make a small shield. Once the cero was stopped, the blades separated and fired back at him. Xzayvion once again began to move just enough to prevent anymore serious injuries. This time, however, Shinta was back in his face, ready to strike him down. Xzayvion once again stopped the attack by grabbing his wrist.

"Huh...now isn't this familiar? So what now? Are you going to make more blades rain down on me or-"

Xzayvion immediately backed up. A single blade tore out of the ground, flew out of the barrier, and into the night sky.

"Wow! Look at that one fly! You really are tricky kid."

Xzayvion then kicked Shinta in the gut and sent him flying back. Shinta caught himself with his power and threw more blades at Xzayvion. Xzayvion sighed upon seeing this.

"Again? Can't you do anything else? Well, I'm not much interested in getting cut up anymore so...I think it's about time to end this."

Xzayvion held his gun up to his head as the blades descended upon him.  
"Deflect, Tortuga!"

Xzayvion pulled the trigger. Instead of a bullet, a white liquid enveloped his entire body. Once the liquid completely covered him, he looked like a large white turtle. Nothing about him looked remotely human anymore.

-Ting ting ting-

The blades bounced off of Xzayvion's shell as if they were nothing. There wasn't even a scratch on him.

"W-what the..." Shinta muttered in shock.

"Oh? Is this your first time seeing an arrancar's release?" Xzayvion spoke from inside the shell, "Unlike yours, our zanpakuto are our own hollow powers sealed away. In other words, this is what I really look like! Although, my release seems to be much more extreme compared to everyone else's. But once I'm like this...Not even Aedric Nat or your Yamamoto and harm me!"

"There's...no way..."

"That's right! I cannot be killed once I'm like this! It doesn't matter if it's difficult to move in here since I can do...this!"

The turtle's mouth suddenly opened.

"Cero!"

Shinta quickly gathered several blades and stopped the attack. Afterwards, the blades flew at Xzayvion.

-Ting ting ting-

Yet the result was the same.

"You see?! You can't do anything!" Xzayvion laughed. Shinta's vision slowly began to fade. He had barely been fighting for five minutes and he was already weakening.

"D-dammit..." he cursed.

"How much longer can you keep this up I wonder? You don't seem to look well."

"Sh-shut up!"

"Ha...defiant all the way to the end."

_Okay, there has got to be something that I can do...I can't give up now! _Shinta thought to himself. He then looked up to the sky, hoping that he would find his answer. And that's when he saw it. That one blade that flew into the sky a while ago was falling back down at an absurd speed. And where it was going was exactly where Xzayvion was at right now. If Xzayvion just sits there just a little bit longer then he could...

Xzayvion took one step forward.

"I think that it's about time to end this game of ours."

Shinta immediately put more pressure onto Xzayvion's body to prevent him from moving.

"It's useless! Even with that, you'll never crack my shell," he laughed as the mouth opened again, "Cero!"

Shinta formed another shield out of four blades. The blades stopped the attack, attacked Xzayvion, bounced off his shell, and returned to their spots on the edge of the barrier.

"...I see. Your blades can only handle one attack before breaking apart. And it looks like they can only be away from the edge of the barrier for so long. That means all I have to do is fire six shots!"

The blade in the sky was still on its way. Shinta just needed a little more time.

"Cero!"

Shinta quickly stopped the first attack.

"Cero!"

The second attack came fairly quickly, but it was stopped just in time.

"Cero! Cero!"

The third and fourth attacks forced Shinta to make two shields to stop them.

"Cero!"

The last shield only had three blades, but it still managed to do its job. Shinta fell to his knees from the stress on his body. With all the blades going back to the edge, he was completely defenseless.

"Hahahahaha! Now die!"

Xzayvion put far more reiatsu into this last attack. If it went off, Shinta would have no hope of surviving. The blade was just outside of the barrier now. Just a few more seconds...

"último..."

The blade had finally entered the barrier.

"Cer-"

Shinta forced as much of his power as he could onto that single blade.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"

The attack was instantaneous. The blade had disappeared the second it entered the barrier, there was no sound. The only evidence of the attack was the chunks of shell that now flew though the air.

"Gaaaaaaaaah!!" Xzayvion screamed once he felt the blade piece him. The blade itself was now embedded through his stomach, his lower shell, and the ground. The shape of the blade prevented any sort of escape. Regardless of what Xzayvion did, he would die in the next four seconds. Shinta stumbled over to Xzayvion's body as he tried to escape.

"Shit! Dammit! H-how could this happen?! He's just a weakling! How could I-gah!"

Xzayvion could feel himself getting lighter. He knew what was happening, he was dying. Not long from now, his body will disappear. Xzayvion looked up at Shinta.

"...Why the long face? This is what you wanted, right? Really...I'll never understand you shinigami..."

"...You seem happy for some reason."

"Ha...That's because I know that I'm gonna die. I'd rather die with a smile on face rather than bitching and complaining about it."

All that was left now was Xzayvion's head.

"Well, it's been fun, Murakami Shinta..."

And with that, Xzayvion Sitruk was no more. After all that, Shinta fell to his knees and his bankai broke. The rain that had been stopped by his bankai slammed onto body, forcing him completely to the ground. Shinta no longer had the strength to get back up. As his blood flowed from his wound, Shinta smiled for some reason.

"Even after that, I still feel empty...doesn't that just go figure," he muttered to himself. As his vision began to fade, he laughed softly.

"Funny...of all these times...why do I think of her...now...?" he asked himself as his world turned black. As he lied there, a bright red glow enveloped the area...

* * *

Tortuga means Turtle...obviously

Thanatos no Kurohana translates roughly to "Black Flower of Thanatos"


	15. Infinity

Northeast of the previous battle, Dainora stood in the center of the Karasu River as if waiting for someone. She then suddenly began grinning as if someone just told her a funny joke.

"Ha...so Xzayvion is now dead? I can't believe that idiot was so careless. Well, at least he served his-"

Dainora then quickly pulled out both of her blades and held them above her head to deflect an incoming strike. She looked up at her attacker and threw her towards the water.

-Splash-

Yuki slid across the river while glaring at Dainora; her zanpakuto was already released. The water around her blade slowly began to freeze.

"Hey, it's rude to attack someone without introducing yourself first," Dainora complained.

"I don't have time for that..." Yuki growled. Dainora then glanced off in the direction that Yuki came from.

"...Hey, were you the one who killed Xzayvion?" she asked. A look of shock overcame Yuki.

"W-what...?"

"No...Of course not. There's no way that you could get from there to here in that short of time. Plus, that guy was much weaker..." she muttered.

"Shinta...he..." Yuki smiled, "Well, I guess that means that your plans have failed! Since Shinta stopped Xzayvion from activating his point-"

"Hm? What are you talking about? Xzayvion's sigil is already active."

"Wait! What do you mean?! I thought-"

"It seems that the shinigami know nothing," Dainora laughed softly, "It's impossible to stop their activation. In fact, our very presence here is slowly activating mine."

"B-but...how...?"

"...Look, I hate talking to people that I'm going to kill, so let's cut this short..."

Dainora then pointed towards Yuki.

"I already know your name so you don't need to introduce yourself. My name is Dainora Ooret. I promise to kill you quickly."

A silver thread then shot out of Dainora's finger. Yuki immediately deflected the attack; sparks flew off of her sword as the thread ran across it. Dainora then shot off a few more threads in Yuki's direction. Yuki quickly raised her blade.

"Shimo Nami!"

The icy wave froze the threads in midair as well as the water before her. Suddenly she noticed that Dainora was missing.

"Where did-"

-Stab-

Yuki suddenly felt a sharp pain on her left shoulder. She turned to see a silver thread embedded into it. And far away she could see Dainora holding onto it.

"...Dammit, that was supposed to hit her head..." she cursed, "You should be glad that you're so short, captain! Had you been taller, I doubt that I would have missed!"

Dainora then began pulling on the thread, sending Yuki off balance. Dainora then dashed towards the off guard Yuki. She drew her blades back.

"...Die."

-Clash-

-Stab-

The first blade was suddenly parried by Hisagi as the other embedded itself onto his side.

"Sh...Shuuhei..."

Hisagi then went for a vertical strike, but Dainora immediately jumped back. Hisagi then fell to his knees.

"Shuuhei!"

"Heh...You really shouldn't...run so far ahead..." he complained. He then slowly began to stand up. Yuki continued to stare at his wound.

"Don't worry about it...I've suffered worse."

Yuki nodded. The two then stared at Dainora.

"...So your lieutenant came to play? That's fine, I can handle the two of you," she said as she began flicking her wrist. Silver threads began flying at the two of them in all directions. Both Yuki and Hisagi easily began dodging the attacks.

"Captain! Get down!" Hisagi suddenly shouted. He then grabbed her head and pulled down. A split second later, a thread came whizzing by where her head was. Yuki stared in disbelief; she didn't even see that thread. If Hisagi was just a little bit late...

"...Tch! Missed again..." Dainora muttered.

"I-I didn't even..." Yuki stammered.

"Captain...She's aiming for your blind spot," Hisagi explained. Yuki then completely understood. No one that she had fought before knew that her left eye was blind.

"I see...Can I count on you to watch my left?"

"Of course!"

The two then prepared themselves again. Dainora sighed in irritation.

"...This is taking too long. I hate fighting for long periods of time..."

Dainora readied her blades.

"I really hate to do this to my kimono again...But if you two are going to be this irritating then I'll just deal with it."

Dainora then stabbed herself and formed a bloody Z across her chest.

"Spin the web, Arana!"

As Dainora transformed, Yuki let out a sigh.

"A spider...great..." she mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing! Just watch my back!" she shouted as she dashed towards Dainora.

"H-hey! Wait!"

Yuki then leapt into the air and pulled her sword back.

"Shimo Nami!"

Dainora quickly shot out a web to counter the icy wave. Yuki easily shattered the frozen web and continued into another attack. By this point, Hisagi was also in front of Dainora, his blade also ready to strike her down. Dainora stood still as the blades pierced her flesh. But just as quickly as the attacks came, Dainora transformed into thousands of tiny masked spiders. The spiders quickly gathered up behind Yuki and Hisagi. Before they could react, Dainora quickly reformed herself.

"Cero!"

Yuki quickly lifted her sword.

"Shimo Nami!"

Yuki's attack hit the water behind her, forming a large ice pillar.

-Booooooom-

The cero easily destroyed the pillar, but it managed to lessen the damage of the attack. Once the smoke cleared, Yuki and Hisagi barely stood, each of them covered in blood.

"...Still not dead...Not that it matters, I'm sure the two of you won't last much longer."

Yuki laughed softly upon hearing this.

"Is that so? Well, I'll let you know that the more damaged I am, the stronger I get," she smiled. She then glanced at Hisagi, "Go to a safe spot, I can handle the rest."  
"...Don't over do it," he warned as he quickly left the water. Once he was gone, she held her zanpakuto straight out.

"Ban...kai!"

Yuki's blood quickly flowed into her icy wings. The entire river around her slowly began to freeze.

"Datenshi Korihoshi," she whispered. Dainora cocked her head.

"...A fallen angel, huh? I don't care what your new powers are, I am invincible. So long as a single on of my spiders live, I will never die."

"Then I guess I'll just freeze you completely so that you cannot separate again!" Yuki shouted as she charged.

* * *

Jaku Weiss stood still as he looked over his opponent. As such, Zaraki Kenpachi did the same.

"Zaraki Kenpachi-san...is it? You are the one who killed Ansel-kun, correct?" Jaku asked.

"That's right; he was a blast to fight against. The wounds he gave me still haven't healed completely yet, but I couldn't pass another opportunity to fight against another arrancar. So, are you stronger than Ansel?"

"Ansel was a good friend of mine. I'm sure that he was glad to fight against you, the current Kenpachi."

Jaku then pulled his axe from behind his back and held it forward.

"However, I intend to avenge his death. So to answer your question, yes, I am stronger than Ansel was. I am second only to Aedric-kun."

Jaku paused and pondered for a moment.

"Oh right, Faedyn-chan is running around too...I guess that makes me number three then," he corrected himself.

"I see..." Kenpachi grinned, "If you're stronger than Ansel, then that makes everything worthwhile."

"Oh ho! You seem confidant Zaraki-san."

"Of course he is! Ken-chan is invincible!" Yachiru poked out from Kenpachi's back.

"Whoa! There's a pink thing growing out of your back!" Jaku exclaimed.

"Pink thing? Whaddya mean by that Shorty!"

"Eh? Are you making fun of me? How mean!"

"...Ken-chan! He's annoying! Hurry up and beat him up!" Yachiru yelled as she ran a good distance away.  
"Eh? Why does everybody keep saying that I'm annoying? I'm not annoying, am I?"

Kenpachi slowly drew his zanpakuto.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"...You didn't even answer my question," Jaku pouted. Jaku then moved his axe a little to deflect Kenpachi's sudden attack.

"Eh? You didn't even wait for me to say that I'm ready..."

Jaku quickly swung his axe. Kenpachi attempted to parry the attack, but was unexpectedly sent flying backwards from the sheer force of the blow. Kenpachi looked at his arm; it was shaking violently.

"...Heh, now we're talking!" he shouted as he ran back towards Jaku.

"Ah, you're weird!"

Kenpachi began letting loose a flurry of attacks, each of which Jaku just stopped by moving his axe in place of each attack. Kenpachi then held his blade with both hands and struck down.

-Clash-

The ground beneath Jaku began to give way, but Jaku's axe didn't show any damage whatsoever.

"Wow! You are really really strong! No wonder why Ansel lost to you."

Jaku then swung forward, sending Kenpachi flying back again. Just as he was about to give chase...

"Roar, Tenken!"

A large sword came towards Jaku. Jaku quickly stabbed the axe into the ground behind himself.

-Clash-

As strong as the attack was, neither Jaku nor his axe moved. In fact, Jaku had yet to move from his initial spot.

"I'm glad to see that you could make it, Komamura-san," Jaku said happily, not bothering to turn around to make sure that it was him.

"What are you doing? This is my fight, so butt out!" Kenpachi growled.

"Zaraki...You should realize that this one is far different form the others. You can not hope to defeat him on your own," Komamura explained.

"But that's what makes this so interested. I want to see how far this kid can push me!"

"That's suicide! We should work together, otherwise we'll both die!"

"Umm, I don't care if you both fight me, y'know..." Jaku spoke in a small voice.

"Tch! Just stay out of this!" Kenpachi yelled as he ran towards Jaku once more. Jaku frowned as he easily parried Kenpachi's strike.

"...Is this all you can do?" he asked.

"What?!"

Jaku threw Kenpachi back once again.

"If all you can do is wildly swing your zanpakuto then I'm not interested in you anymore. I'm gonna go play with Komamura-san since he as a really really cool armor guy!"

Jaku then started to skip towards Komamura's direction.

"...What the hell?" Kenpachi complained.

"Koooomaaaamuuuuraaaa-saaaan! Are you ready to play?"

"Z-Zaraki!"  
Jaku then stated to run towards Komamura and swung wildly.

Komamura swung as hard as he could to keep Jaku back. Jaku met the strike head on, completely shattering the giant's blade.

-Jingle-

Jaku reached up and grabbed the arm above him.

"I already told you, you're boring! Now go away!"

Jaku threw Kenpachi towards Komamura with little effort. Komamura caught Kenpachi before he crashed into him.

"...Dammit...Fine, we'll do things your way for now," Kenpachi grumbled as he rose to his feet, "You have a plan?"

"I'll distract him with my bankai. While he is busy, strike him down with your strongest attack."

"...You better make this up to me later."

The two separated as Komamura lifted his blade into the air.

"Bankai!"  
Jaku began clapping wildly as the giant rose.

"Wooooooooooow! So cooooooool!" he cheered.

Komamura then swung hard. As the giant's blade struck, Jaku met the attack with his own. As they stood in a deadlock of power, Kenpachi quickly ran up behind Jaku and swung down as hard as he could with both hands.

-Clash-

-Slit-

Jaku's reiatsu suddenly jumped massively. It was enough to make Komamura and Kenpachi realize that even the two of them working together may not be able to defeat him. Jaku's position had also changed; his right hand held his axe while his left held Kenpachi's zanpakuto. Blood slowly dripped from his hand.

"Wow, I'm surprised that you were actually able to cut me. Maybe I underestimated you a little."

While holding onto Kenpachi's blade, Jaku jabbed him in the throat with the handle. He then scraped his axe past Komamura's bankai and cut Kenpachi across the chest.

"Haaaaaaaah!"

Komamura struck again, but Jaku stopped the giant's blade with his bare hand. As Jaku squeezed his hand, cracks began to form across the blade. And suddenly, without warning, Komamura's bankai shattered.

"W-what the...?!" Komamura stammered. Jaku sighed loudly.

"This is getting boring...Normally, I would not weaklings such as you two, but I have my orders."

Jaku slowly turned towards Komamura.

"I'll start with you."

Suddenly, Jaku was directly in front of Komamura. There was no time to avoid the imminent attack.

-Clash-

"...Huh?"

Jaku leapt back as another shinigami appeared.

"Sorry we're late Sajin-kun," Kyouraku apologized. Ukitake quickly appeared next to Kenpachi.

"We came here as quickly as possible," he said while glancing at Jaku, "That kid...he's a monster..."

"I'm sure you guys won't mind if we help out a bit."

"We could use all the help we can get," Komamura said.

"Tch! Like I care anymore," Kenpachi complained. Jaku glanced at the four captains that now surrounded him.

"Awww! Four against one, that's not fair!"

"Well kid, we don't have to fight if you don't want to. How about we go into town and I'll buy you something nice and shiny, what do you say?" Kyouraku offered.

"Hm? Um, thanks for the offer, but I'm supposed to activate this sigil here and that means that I have to kill you all to do so. Sorry about that," Jaku apologized.

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Ukitake asked.

"Huh? You don't know? These sigils are activated by absorbing enough spiritual power. Usually, it takes years to gather enough to activate one sigil, but if a highly powerful spiritual being dies here..."

"...Then it'll become active..."

"Right! So I just have to kill one of you or you have to kill me. Either way, it's impossible to stop the process. I made sure that there were no holes in this plan," Jaku giggled.

"Are you telling us that-"

"That's right. I'm the one who came up with this plan. I also showed Aedric-kun how to become a vasto lorde and how to become an arrancar too."

Everyone was too shocked for words.

"...Just what the hell are you?" Kenpachi demanded.

"Eh? I already told you, I'm Jaku Weiss. What else is there to know?"

"...It looks like we won't be able to talk ourselves out of this. Flower wind rage and flower god roar. Heavenly wind rage and heavenly demon sneer."

"Waves rise now and become my shield. Lightning strike now and become my blade."

"Katen Kyoukotsu."

"Sogyo no Kotowari."

Jaku marveled as he saw the dual zanpakuto form.

"Woooooow! Two swords! So cool!" he cheered.

"It's best if you give up now, Jaku-kun. Even as strong as you are, you cannot defeat all four of us," Kyouraku warned.

"...Is that so?" Jaku laughed softly. The air around him began to change, "I think that you four are overestimating yourselves, or haven't you noticed? I haven't even release my zanpakuto yet...Excluding Yamamoto-Genryusai Shigekuni, I could defeat the entirety of the Gotei 13 if I wished..."

Jaku then stabbed his axe into the ground.

"Split unto infinity, Ameba."

The four captains embraced themselves for the incoming transformation...but nothing happened. Jaku pulled his axe out of the ground.

"Okay! All ready!' he called out. The others stared dumbfounded at him.

"He...didn't change? His reiatsu didn't even increase..." Ukitake said.

"Eh? You shouldn't judge by appearances," a child-like voice spoke from behind him. Ukitake and Kenpachi spun around to see another Jaku some distance away.

"Yeah, that's right!"

"So what if our reiatsu didn't increase?"

"It's still more than enough to kill you all!"

There were now four other Jakus around the captains, each as powerful as the original.

"I see that you are all confused, let me explain. My ability is the power to replicate myself infinitely. For example..."

Suddenly, another Jaku burst from the one in the center.

"Hi! I'm Jaku number six!" he greeted.

"This...is bad," Kyouraku commented.

"But...Since I'm a nice guy, I'll give you a hit."

"Yeah! A hint! A hint!"

"If you kill the real me..."

"All of us will disappear."

"But the question is..."

"_Which of us is the real one?_" they all asked in unison. There were at least 20 Jakus by this point. Despite how bat the situation was, Kenpachi began laughing.

"Yes! This is more like it!" he proclaimed.

"Oh? Do you have a plan?" Ukitake asked.

"We just kill all of them. He's bound to be more careless with this many and we're bound to get the real one sooner or later. It's that simple."

"Well...it's something," Kyouraku admitted.

"So what are we waiting for?! Bring it on!!"

* * *

-Crash-

Soi Fon quickly dodged yet another trap. The traps were getting more and more numerous as she drew closer to the school. Spike traps and barb-like darts littered the ground behind her. She knew that she was getting closer. She then leapt over the walls of the school and landed onto the rooftop. She glanced around.

"...Not here either," she muttered. She then leapt off the rooftop. Hiding in a nearby wall was Txaran. He watched as the captain left.

"...That was close," he sighed.

"What was close?"

Txaran quickly leapt out of the way and dodged Soi Fon's strike. Her zanpakuto was already released.

"So, you were the one who set those annoying traps..."

Txaran gritted his teeth, as if anyone could see that.

"...You're no as strong as Kenpachi...So I guess this isn't too bad," he stood up, "I guess I could fight against you more easily."

"...I don't know what you're getting at, but I'm not as weak as you think I am."

"Bakudo no. 63! Sajou Sabaku!"

Soi Fon opened her eyes widely as a chain wrapped around her body.

"I take it by your reaction that you are surprised, yes? Out of all of us, I was the only one who learned your kidou techniques. They're quite useful; I don't understand why the others never use them..."

Txaran then pulled a barb out and held it to Soi Fon's neck.

"That's right, you shinigami like to know the names of your opponents, yes? My name is Txaran Berosa, make sure you tell that to God when you see him."

"Ha...You don't think that you're going to kill me that easily now do you?"

Soi Fon's reiatsu suddenly rose sharply.

"Shunko!"

The chains immediately shattered. Txaran stared in disbelief as Soi Fon struck him.

-Poof-

A cloud of smoke suddenly appeared. Out of it came a small Txaran plush with a tag on it. The tag clearly said 'loser'.

"Where did he go-"

The tag started to sizzle. Soi Fon immediately leapt out of the way.

-Boooooooom-

The explosion shook the school, forming a large hole in the roof. Soi Fon glanced down into the hole; there were a number of barb-like darts littered throughout the inside as if beckoning her to come in.

"If that's how you want to play, then I'm game," she smiled as she leapt into the hole.

* * *

Jaku's Ameba translates to Amoeba


	16. They Call us Mad

Renji and Matsumoto quickly neared the next point. The path that they ran on was eerily quiet; the two of them had yet to see a hollow or another shinigami. As they turned a corner to enter the next intersection, they saw something different. Several gillian-class menos, a battalion of hollows and four arrancar stood in the intersection as if they owned it.

"Psst! Over here!" a voice called out. On the other side of the street was Yumichika and Ikkaku; they were hiding behind a building for some reason.

"What are you two-" Renji started.

"Shh! Keep it down and get over here," Ikkaku whispered. The two hurried across the street, being careful as to not get spotted.

"What are you two hiding for?" Renji asked.

"We've been eavesdropping on their conversation," Ikkaku pointed. Renji looked out of the corner and saw a lone shinigami standing before all the hollows. He had matted up white hair and his gi was open and flutter through the wind. Renji couldn't see much else since his back was turned towards him.

"...Who is he?"

"Dunno. But he's been saying some weird things since he arrived. Just listen..."

"_**...So you guys like Aedric that much, huh?**_" the shinigami spoke in a creepy voice.

"What the hell?"

"Yeah, but that's not the only thing. The second he arrived, all the hollows in the area gathered towards him."

One of the arrancar began laughing.

"Of course! Aedric-sama was kind enough to take over for Aizen-sama."

"And he's gonna to all the shinigami too!"

"_**That's pointless...You all need the shinigami as much as they need you. One cannot exist without the other.**_"

"...What would a shinigami know?"

"_**Shinigami?!**_" the figure stated laughing, "_**Do I really look like one of them?**_"

The others were now able to see more of the figure. He had a hole on his stomach and his skin was deathly pale. His eyes were black with golden irises.

"_**So, what makes Aedric so great then?**_"

"Aedric-sama is our king!"

"That's right! Aedric-sama's going to kill the shinigami and become our king."

"_**Is that right? But, you already have a king so you should all be good little vassals and obey him, not some cheap imitator.**_"

"Tch! And what has this king done for us? This is the first that I've ever heard of him!"

"Aedric-sama has already showed us his strength, he is our true king!"

"I have never heard of him either! How do we even know if he actually exists?"

The figure drew his zanpakuto with a grin.

"_**Let me tell you a story. Long ago, a being that was no longer a hollow or a shinigami came into being. Because of circumstance, he could no longer return home. So, he decided to control the world before him. He only lay down one law: everyone can do as they wish, but do not worship any false lords. But...since you have all decided to ignore that law...**_"

Typhoon-like winds suddenly began to erupt around the figure's zanpakuto. The strong winds quickly began tearing up the concrete and all nearby buildings.

"_**Heh...heh heh...Hyahahahahahaha!! That means that you have decided to betray your king! That's right! Traitors! You are all traitors! You deserved to be punished, punished for your sins! The only suitable punishment is death! Death death death!!**_"

The figure continued to laugh manically as his sword tore up the neighborhood.

"That reiatsu...it's the same as us...who are you?!"

"_**Haha...That's a very stupid question!**_"

Suddenly, he shot his sword forward.

"_**Sunder the heavens and earth, Kami no Kokyuu!**_"

The winds given off from the sword before were nothing compared to this attack. In a matter of seconds, a large gorge as far as the eye could see was formed in front of the figure; nothing before him had survived. Suddenly, a bright red glow enveloped the area.

"_**Hm? I see...so this is how this works. Pretty cleaver, Jaku!**_" he then began to walk away, "_**I might as well watch and see how this all turns out.**_"

"Hey! Wait!" Renji called out while running after the figure.

"Renji! Wait!"

The figure stopped dead in his tracks.

"Who...What are you?!" Renji demanded. He had heard of that sword before. Kami no Kokyuu: the strongest of the wind element zanpakuto. It once belonged to a powerful shinigami but...he had died over 2000 years ago. The figure slowly turned his head and looked directly into Renji's eyes.

"_**Do you have business with me, child?**_"

Renji could feel it, a strong intent to kill. He knew that no matter what he did, he could not defeat this person, no one could. His body quickly became paralyzed with fear. The figure slowly turned away.

"_**Hmph. I thought not.**_"

And with that, he vanished into thin air. The others quickly ran up to Renji.

"H-hey! What happened?" Matsumoto asked.

"W-we...can't beat that..." Renji muttered. His body was shaking violently.

"You mean that guy? Who was he?" Ikkaku asked.

"I-I-I don't...know...but h-he's o-our enemy..."

And with that, Renji fell unconscious.

"H-hey! Pull yourself together! Renji!"

* * *

-Clash-

Both Ichigo and Faedyn met in a deadlock. The two quickly backed off and began attacking again. Although her blows were quick and precise, it was nothing that Ichigo's bankai couldn't handle. The two continued to clash until Ichigo felt something strike his gut. Faedyn then lifted her blade to finish him off when several arrows flew towards her. Faedyn quickly stepped back while striking any arrows that came near her. Once the last arrow was gone, Chad went in for his attack. Faedyn quickly looked up in surprise and struck.

-Slit-

Chad blocked with his right arm. Blood slowly flowed from the wound she caused, but Chad paid it no mind and struck with his left. Faedyn leapt back to dodge the attack. She then placed her sword behind her back to deflect Ichigo's coming strike. Once she finally landed, everyone stood still, waiting for her next attack. However...

"...Eh? Why isn't-"

Ichigo was immediately cut off as Faedyn ran towards him. Ichigo immediately dodged and struck back, but Faedyn immediately parried him. Ichigo quickly backed off. Once again, Faedyn stood still as the others waited. After a short while, she began sniffing the air.

"...Damn this rain...I can't find them..." she cursed.

Rukia slowly slid her foot across the ground. Faedyn immediately dashed towards Rukia's direction. Rukia could only stare and her opponent raised her blade.

"Santen Kesshun! I reject!"

-Clang-

"What...?"

Faedyn had a confused look on her face. She poked at the shield that protected Rukia.

"What is this thing...?" she kept asking herself. And that's when Rukia realized it.

"She's...blind..."

Faedyn gritted her teeth upon hearing this.

"Who cares if I am? It's not like I need to see to kill you all!" she shouted as she began slamming her blade against the shield. Cracks slowly began to form.

-Clash-

Faedyn immediately turned around and deflected Ichigo's strike.

"How did-"

Faedyn began swinging wildly in an effort to prevent her prey from escaping again.

"As I said, I don't need my eyes. I can hear any sort of movement that you make and I can feel the vibrations in the air that signifies your attacks!"

She then kicked Ichigo in the gut again and knocked him back.

"I may be weakened, but I'm still a vasto lorde!" she screamed as she brought her blade down.

"Bakudo no. 61, Rikujokoro!"

Six bars of light struck Faedyn, stopping her movements completely."

"...?! What the hell?!"

Faedyn quickly began struggling as the bars slowly began to crack.

"Hurry! That won't hold her for long!" Rukia shouted. Chad was the first to move. He gathered up his reiatsu into his left and struck Faedyn in her gut.

"La Muete!"

The powerful strike shook Faedyn's body violently. As the six bars broke, she fell to her knees. Ishida then quickly fired several arrows into her body. She slowly began to stand.

"Kuh...I...won't...!"

"The next dance, Hakuren!"

Faedyn was immediately frozen in a large block of ice. Ichigo then began concentrating his reiatsu into Zangetsu.

"Getsuga Tenshou!"

-Boooooooooooom-

Ice shards flew everywhere. And lying on the ground was Faedyn. Just as everyone thought that she was defeated, she slowly began to rise again.

"K-kuh...I can't believe...that weaklings like you can hurt me..." she breathed heavily. She then glanced at her zanpakuto.

"Shit! She's going to release it!" Ichigo shouted. Faedyn shook her head.

"No...I won't release it...or more like, I cannot release it."

Faedyn turned her blade towards the others. All over it were strange markings. She then lifted up her bangs. Everyone gasped at the sight; it wasn't that she was simply blind, her eyes were gouged out. All that remained were two large holes in her head. And on her forehead were the same strange markings that were on her sword.

"This is a 'curse' that Aedric put on me when I went against him," she explained, "So long as I have this, I cannot release my zanpakuto. For my betrayal, that bastard too away my blade and my eyes as compensation..."

* * *

Tusnelda struck her tails out at Byakuya once more. Much like all the other times, Byakuya used his flash step and easily evaded the attack.

"**Damn you! Stop moving!**" she screamed. She then dashed towards him and attacked. Once again, she hit nothing but air.

"Hadou no. 63, Soren Sokatsui."

Tusnelda cried out in pain as the attack struck her from behind.

"**W-why you!!"**

-Stab-

Tusnelda looked down in shock. A blade made out of reiatsu had pierced straight through her.

"**W-what the hell...?"**

The black quickly dissipated and Tusnelda fell down to the ground.

"I have pierced your heart. In a short while, you will die," Byakuya explained while turning away, "I suggest that you make the most of your last moments."

"**F-fuck you! What the hell was that thing?! I've never heard of any technique like that!"**

"That's not really any of your concern."

Tusnelda continued swearing as Byakuya walked off.

"**Dammit...dammit...DAMMIT!!**"

And with that she did something completely unexpected. She grabbed her nose ring and tore it off. Blood quickly began to seep out of her nose, but she did not care any more.

"**Gah! This eye is so useless! I don't care about it anymore!**"

She then shoved her hand into her right eye and tore it out. Byakuya watched in horror as she crushed her own eye in a fit of rage. She then shoved her nose ring into her empty socket. A bright glow enveloped her. Her wounds slowly healed themselves and her eye grew back. This eye was no longer blue, now both of her eyes were red.

"**Tch! I can't believe that her eye was so useless**," she muttered. She then looked up at Byakuya. In a split second, she was behind him. Blood spewed forth from Byakuya's right shoulder.

"**...How pitiful.**"

Tusnelda immediately went for another strike.

"Bakudo no. 39, Enkosen."

Tusnelda's claws tore through Byakuya's shield. Tusnelda grinned as the bloody Byakuya fell to the ground. Suddenly, the so called corpse vanished.

"**An after image?!**"

She immediately spun around to see Byakuya looking as calm as always.

"**...Tch! That look on your face really pisses me off!**"

She then disappeared again. Byakuya immediately ducked and dodged her strike. He then pointed his finger right into her face.

"Hadou no. 4, Byakurai."

The lightning shot forth and tore though Tusnelda's skull. However, a second later, she was directly behind him.

"**Ha! Dodge this!!**"

-Crash-

All of Tusnelda's tails were embedded into the ground, but Byakuya was no where to be found. Tusnelda quickly looked around. Byakuya was a good distance away and he was in the process of retrieving his zanpakuto.

"**Going after your sword, huh?! What happened to all that 'I don't need my zanpakuto'?!**"

A green glow filled up Tusnelda's right hand. Within the next second, she was back in front of Byakuya, her glowing hand near his face.

"**Gran Rey-**"

Byakuya dropped his zanpakuto.

"Bankai."

-Slit-

"**GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!**"

Within the next second, Tusnelda's right arm was severed from her body.

"**AAH! You bastard! You cut off my arm again! I'll kill kiLl KiLL KILL KILL YOU!!**"

Before she could move, several blades impaled her body. Tusnelda hobbled forward in an effort to get closer to Byakuya. Several cherry blossom blades flew above her.

"Now, disappear."

The blades shot down towards Tusnelda.

"**Hah...Not yet!**"

Tusnelda's tails shot the blades out of the sky and gathered them right in front of her face.

"**I'm not ready to die yet!**"

The area in front of her tails began to distort and warp as Tusnelda's reiatsu began to rise.

"**Kyahahahahahaha! I'd love to see you avoid this! Ultimo cero!**"

A bright light enveloped the area.

-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM-

Everything around the two was completely torn to pieces. Byakuya held onto his left arm. It was literally hand on by a thread. His entire lift side was burned badly. Byakuya's left leg suddenly gave out, forcing him to his knees. He was lucky to still be alive.

"**Tch! So that was**n't enough..."

Byakuya looked up. Tusnelda was standing not too far away from him. But for some reason or another, her body was vanishing.

"I can't believe that I gambled all that and still lost," she complained, "I'm sure that you want to know why I'm dying, right? Well, it's pretty simple. That attack is so powerful that it uses your own life force as its fuel. Just using it can deteriorate our bodies and if we put too much power into it, well..."

Tusnelda spread out her arms.

"It's called 'Ultimo' for a reason...But, not it matters. Heh, it would have been ugly of me to die by your hands. Besides, I like the idea of my life force transformed into a destructive force of power. It's almost poetic, really..."

And with that, Tusnelda Faraye vanished from the world.

* * *

Faedyn stopped dead in her tracks. She clenched her teeth and shook violently.

"No...That's not possible..." she muttered. Ichigo swung his blade down, but Faedyn caught it with her bare hand.

"Haha...This is a bad joke...A really bad joke!"

A red light formed in her hands.

"Cero!"

Ichigo barely managed to get away from her attack. However, she wasn't done yet.

"Cero! Cero! Cero! Cero!"

Faedyn began firing off random cero blasts. Ichigo and the others quickly took cover as the area around them was torn apart. Once it was all over, Faedyn began to breathe heavily in an attempt to calm down. Ichigo looked around for his friends.

"Hey! Is everyone-"

He immediately stopped as Faedyn appeared before him.

-Slit-

"Augh!"

Ichigo barely managed a flash step to avoid the attack. A large chunk was missing from his right shoulder.

"Dammit! Carriage of thunder. Bridge of-Kuh!"

Rukia's kidou was suddenly halted when Faedyn's blade pierced through her neck. Ishida immediately prepared his bow.

"Bala!"

And just as it formed, Ishida's head was blown off. Chad immediately charged at her. Faedyn quickly swung her blade, cleaving Chad in half with little resistance. Upon seeing all of this, Orihime fell to her knees.

"K-Kuchiki-san...Uryuu...Sado-kun..." she trembled. Suddenly, Faedyn appeared before her, her sword high above her head.

"Die!"

-Clash-

Faedyn's blade was suddenly intercepted by Ichigo's. His mask was now on his face.

"K-Kurosaki-kun..."

"_**Inoue, heal the others. I'll take care of her.**_"

Ichigo quickly threw Faedyn off his blade. He then began an onslaught of attacks, each of which she began having trouble stopping.

"That reiatsu...You feel like us, yet you smell like a shinigami...What the hell...?!"

Faedyn quickly backed away from Ichigo.

"You...You're just like..." her body began shivering, "G-go away! Cero!"

Ichigo leapt up into the air and began charging his reiatsu.

"_**Getsuga Tenshou!**_"

Faedyn held her palm up towards the black mass that was approaching her.

"Dammit! I have no choice! Ultimo cero!"

-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM-

The clash of the two energies began to shake the entire city.

"A-ah! I can't...!" Faedyn felt her body getting weaker.

_As a price for that, you may no longer use your true powers._

"Damn you..."

_So I hear that you betrayed Aedric-sama._

"Kuh...!"

_Those eyes of yours are really beautiful..._

"D-dammit..."

_I think...that I'll take them for myself._

"DAMMIT!!"

Faedyn forced more of her life force into her cero. The cero tore through the getsuga tenshou.

-Slit-

However, Ichigo immediately flash stepped onto the ground and cut her through. Faedyn could feel her body getting lighter.

"...This isn't fair..." she complained as bloody tears streamed from her sockets. As she sniffed the air one last time, a look of shock overcame her face.

"Why...why is he here...?"

Her body was almost gone.

"Mer...rem...sa...ma..."

* * *

That's it for now. By the way, 'Kami no Kokyuu' translates roughly to 'Breath of God'.


	17. Red Glow of Defeat

Heh, I would have had this out over a week ago, but I kinda got distracted and obsessed over Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. (Awesome series, by the way)

Anyways, here's the next chapter. I'll try and see if I can get another done by the end of this weekend too.

* * *

-Tap tap tap-

Soi Fon's footsteps echoed loudly through the halls of the empty school. The halls were pitch black; however it didn't bother her that much. As the head of the stealth forces she was used to this type of environment. Soi Fon suddenly ducked as several barbs flew over her head. She then back flipped to dodge the ones coming from behind her. Upon landing, she began scanning the hall. Despite how often she was attacked, she was unable to determine Txaran's position. As she continued trying to sense him, Txaran slowly lowered himself from the ceiling behind her. He then formed a barb onto his hand and slowly walked towards her. And with one swift motion...

-Clash-

Soi Fon deflected the strike to her neck. She then spun around and kicked. Txaran quickly blocked the kick and countered with a punch, of which was immediately blocked by Soi Fon. The two continued this for a few seconds until Txaran pointed towards Soi Fon.

"Hadou no. 1, Shou."

Soi Fon was pushed back by an invisible force. While she was caught off guard, Txaran opened his palm towards her.

"Hadou no. 63, Raikouhou."

Acting immediately, Soi Fon dashed towards a nearby stairwell and dived down.

-Boooooooooom-

The entire hallway was torn apart as the lightning attack went through. Soi Fon looked back up towards the hall.

-Stab stab-

"Augh?!"

Two barbs were suddenly thrown and embedded into each leg. Clenching her teeth, Soi Fon tore both of the barbs out.

"That must have hurt, yes?" a voice from above spoke. Soi Fon immediately rolled away and avoided Txaran's strike. As she got up, Txaran kicked her hard, sending her down to the next floor.

-Smack-

Soi Fon hit the wall hard. She then readied herself for Txaran's next attack. Seconds passed, yet nothing happened. Soi Fon slowly closed her eyes.

_He's definitely planning something,_ she thought to herself, _If I want to find him, all I need to do is rely on my other senses._

Soi Fon took in deep breaths in an attempt to calm her mind.

-Snap snap snap-

Soi Fon could feel it; those three snaps signified that there were many barbs heading in her direction. However, she was more than ready for them.

-Clash clash clash-

Soi Fon effectively deflected every barb that came at her. Over thirty barbs now lay at her feet. She then closed her eyes again and began to listen.

-Sheeeeeek-

The sound came from several meters to her left. Soi Fon immediately got to her feet and ran towards the faint sound. Txaran reacted immediately, throwing the few barbs that he had just made. Soi Fon leapt onto the ceiling to avoid them. Once they passed under her, she kicked off of the ceiling and struck at the defenseless Txaran.

-Slit-

A large black butterfly suddenly appeared onto Txaran's chest.

"What the...?"

Soi Fon immediately went for a second attack.

-Clash-

Txaran quickly parried the attack with a newly formed barb. Soi Fon then attempted to kick Txaran in the head, but he blocked the attack with his other arm. With the two in a deadlock, Txaran flipped his free hand face up.

"Hadou no. 90..."

Soi Fon quickly broke from the deadlock.

"...Kuohi-"

Before he could finish, Soi Fon kicked Txaran's feet from under him. As he fell back, she grabbed his legs and threw him into a classroom door.

-Crash-

Txaran tore straight through the door. He then flipped over and landed on his feet. Upon landing, Soi Fon was directly in his face, ready to deal the final blow. Txaran immediatly jumped back, but Soi Fon quickly kicked him instead. The force of her kick sent him flying out the window, shattering it completely. Soi Fon quickly ran towards the window to give chase, but was immediately kicked in the face. As she backed off, Txaran reentered the class room.

"So this is the strength of a captain...I see that it was wrong of me to underestimate you," Txaran commented. Barbs slowly came out of his hands.

"However, I already have you trapped."

Txaran swiped the air.

-Snap-

A wave of barbs suddenly flew at Soi Fon. As they descended upon her, she couldn't help but smile.

"...Is that all?"

Soi Fon suddenly vanished from view as the barbs embedded themselves into the floor. When she reappeared, she was directly behind Txaran with her Suzumebachi directly aiming for his chest. Txaran only muttered a few words as the blade drew closer.

"Impale, Puerco Espin."

-Slit slit slit-

Soi Fon quickly backed of. She was cut all along her arms, legs and torso. Upon saying these words, Txaran's body grew large barbs all around his body.

"You're surprised, yes? I had a strong feeling that you were going to do that. However...I was counting on the fact that you would have been killed by that. Not that it makes that much of a difference."

The bloody Soi Fon readied herself.

"...Face it, shinigami, so long as I am like this, you cannot harm me. You might as well give up."

Txaran the spread his arms out. Suddenly, every barb on his body fired off at once. Soi Fon attempted to avoid the attack.

-Slit slit slit-

"Augh...!"

The barbs that flew by scraped against her body, but she managed to avoid any serious injuries. She then got ready to attack Txaran, but stopped once she saw that his barbs had already grown back.

"You see now how useless it is, yes? No matter what you do now, you can no longer harm me. I'm sure that you haven't noticed yet, but my barbs do far more than impale my targets."

Soi Fon looked at one of the barbs embedded in front of her. Directly in the center of it was a large eyeball, looking directly at her. In fact, all the barbs in the room had a similar eye on each of them.

"So you see now, yes? I can see anything that those eyes can see. In other words, nothing that you can do here will catch me off guard. Where ever you move, I'll be able to catch you."

Despite how much trouble she was in, Soi Fon smiled once more.

"That may be true but...what if I had already done something?"

"...What do you mean?"

"What if I had anticipated that this place would be a battlefield and planned accordingly?"

Soi Fon then quickly began to make hand signals.

"W-what are you...?!"

-Booooooooooooom-

The entire school began to shake. And without warning, the floor beneath Txaran and Soi Fon collapsed.

-Thud-

Txaran landed onto the next floor with a loud thud. He then quickly looked around. With the combination of the darkness and the dust, he could not see anything. He gritted his teeth.

_Calm down...If I can't see anything, then that means that she can't either,_ he thought to himself. He then began to spread his arms out.

_That means that she won't be able to avoid my attacks!_

Txaran quickly began firing off his barbs in an effort to get her.

-Stab-

"...Huh?"

As the dust cleared, Txaran saw Soi Fon standing directly in front of him with her blade embedded into his chest. This was her second strike.

"I had a feeling that you would do that if you couldn't see me. You were careless," she commented.

"C-curse you...shinigami..." Txaran cursed as his body vanished. Once he was gone, a bright red glow took over the entire school area. Soi Fon took a deep breath as she began to leave the building. Once she left the school, she held her hand out.

"It stopped raining..."

"Hah...Hah..."

Soi Fon turned to see where this new sound was coming from. As she expected, it was her lieutenant Omaeda.

"I...finally..." he spoke between breaths.

"...You're late. I already finished the battle."

"H-huh?! But I would have been here sooner if you didn't run off so quickly!"

"That's not my problem. Maybe you would be able to keep up if you didn't spend so much time eating rice crackers."

"W-what?!"

"I'm heading to the next point, don't fall behind again."

And with that, Soi Fon ran off.

"W-wait! Don't run off so fast!"

* * *

Dainora began flicking her wrists wildly as Yuki chased after her. Soon enough, several large webs appeared around Yuki.

"Shimo Nami!"

Yuki spun around while using her attack. The result ended up spreading out her icy wave, allowing her to freeze the webs around her. Once they shattered, she continued after her opponent. Dainora suddenly stopped to prepare for her next attack, yet her legs slid wildly on the ice.

"This ice is starting to get on my nerves," she grumbled. Dainora then bent over and touched the ice with her hand.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

A large web suddenly covered the entirety of the frozen river. Since Yuki was flying, she decided to ignore this and continued towards her opponent.

-Shing-

Several threads suddenly shot up from the main web directly in front of Yuki. The threads quickly combined and formed another web. Yuki quickly shot off to her right in an effort to dodge it.

-Shing shing shing-

Even more webs suddenly shot up around her. The webs began to act as if they were walls in a maze. These walls began to form all over the place, barely giving Yuki enough to cut them down. And if that weren't enough, each web began to fire off silver threads in Yuki's direction. Yuki dodged and weaved between each attack. After tearing through the hellish maze, Yuki finally reached Dainora. With one powerful slash, Yuki cleaved Dainora in two. However, once again, Dainora's body split into thousands of spiders and ran of. As the spiders began to reform her body, Yuki lifted her sword.

"Shimo Na-Augh!"

Yuki suddenly stopped at a sharp pain that entered her left arm. She quickly looked at her arm. There was a blade embedded in her arm held by a disembodied arm. The blade and arm quickly split into spiders and scurried back to Dainora's body.

"As you can see, I can reform my body parts anywhere that I want. As I already said, I am immortal. I can survive even if only my head remains," Dainora explained.

"I guess I'll have to test that theory," Yuki commented as more of her blood started to flow into her wings. She then flew forward at such an incredible sped that she was able to tear through the many webs with no resistance. Large icy spikes formed behind her. Dainora cold only watch as Yuki appeared before her.

-Slit-

And with one quick motion, Dainora's head was lopped off. Once her head was removed, her body once again split into spiders. Before she knew it, Dainora's spiders had reformed in multiple places. Her arms, legs, torso, and head reformed in a way to completely surround Yuki.

"You may be good at dodging my webs but let's see you avoid this!"

Energy began to form at each of Dainora's body parts.

"Cero!"

"Shit! Shimo Nami!"

-Booooooooooooooom-

Dainora then split her body parts into spiders once more and reformed her body. Once the smoke cleared, Yuki's figure could be seen. Although she had managed to encase her body in ice, it did very little to prevent any damage. Yuki breathed heavily as her blood poured out of her multiple wounds. Her wings were badly cracked and slowly began to fall apart. In an effort to stop the bleeding, she began to freeze her wounds.

"What's wrong? It looks like you're having a little trouble there," Dainora mocked. Upon lifting her hand up, several threads shot up beneath Yuki. The threads then spread out and formed into a large web which then wrapped tightly around Yuki's body.

"S-shit!" Yuki cursed as she attempted to escape the web.

"It's useless, chibi captain. There is no way that you can escape from my web," Dainora laughed softly as she drew closer to Yuki, "Normally I'd kill you quickly, but since you have already caused me so much pain..."

Dainora lifted her hand directly above Yuki's body.

"This is how you are going to die: I am going to split my body into spiders. My spiders will then burrow into your skin and begin eating you from the inside out."

Yuki's eyes opened widely as Dainora's hand began turning into spiders. She then began to struggle even harder as they landed onto the web and began to burrow into it to get to her body.

"That's the spirit! Keep on struggling!" Dainora laughed. Yuki began shaking violently as she felt the spider's legs touching her skin. And for some unknown reason, Yuki began to smile.

"_**Heh!**_"

The web around Yuki suddenly froze completely. Dainora quickly backed of as the web shattered. During this time, a cat-like mask began to form across Yuki's face and her hair and wings turned black.

"_**Pathetic! You are so pathetic, Yuki-chan!**_" Yuki shouted out. Dainora continued to watch as Yuki's transformation continued.

"...I've heard of this...You are what Aedric-sama calls a Vizard," Dainora commented. Yuki cocked her head.

"_**Don't lump me in with those fools. They can actually control their other selves, this child can't,**_" Yuki explained.

"If that's the case then we shouldn't be enemies. We are both hollows after all."

"_**Ha...I refuse. I don't have any intention of siding with anybody. Besides...I don't really like anyone who tries to kill Yuki-chan.**_"

"I see...That's a real shame..."

At that moment, one of Dainora's missing arms suddenly struck at Yuki from behind. However, just before the blade could hit her, the entire arm was frozen completely. Yuki then bashed the frozen arm with her sword as it were nothing. With her other arm, Dainora began flicking her wrists, sending several threads at Yuki. Yuki just stood still as each thread was completely encased in ice before they could hit her.

"_**Kukuku...Don't think that I'm as stupid as Yuki-chan! Unlike her, I can use my reiatsu to freeze any attacks that come my way. Honestly, I can't imagine why she has never thought of doing that...**_" she complained, "_**Not that it matters now. Heh, it's not like she's ever coming back.**_"

Yuki then held her sword up into the air and began slowly moving it in counterclockwise circle. A trail of ice and snow followed her blade's path. Once the snowy circle was complete, she held her sword above her once more.

"_**Let me show you how this attack is really done! Shimo Nami!**_"

Yuki then cut through the snowy circle. After doing so, a large blizzard blew through the area, freezing anything in her path. Dainora immediately wrapped herself in a web to protect herself. Once the attack ended, all the webs in the area broke down and shattered. All that was left was a single ice block. The block then shattered and Dainora held out her arm, the area around her began to distort.

"Kuh! You are way too dangerous! Ultimo cero!"

Yuki fell to the ground and stabbed her blade into the ice. As her blade began to glow eerily, she quickly tore it out of the ground.

"_**Shimo Nami!**_"

All the water in the river suddenly erupted and flowed towards Dainora. The water quickly began to freeze, forming many ice spikes and acting as wall.

-Booooooooooooom-

The ultimo cero tore through the icy wall, but Yuki had already moved away from her position. Dainora, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Everything from her waist down was in a huge block of ice. Dainora struggled frantically to escape.

"_**Here, let me help you.**_"

-Slit-

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Dainora screamed as everything outside of the ice block was severed. As Dainora drug herself with her remaining arm, Yuki pointed her finger towards the ice block.

"Bala."

-Crash-

The entire block was shattered completely. In retaliation, Dainora began charging another attack. Yuki quickly stomped onto her arm and forced it to the ground. She then pointed her blade directly in front of Dainora's face and smiled.

"_**I wonder what would happen if I fired a cero right here,**_" she crooned.

"P-please...spare me..." Dainora begged.

"_**Eh? I thought that you were immortal. What's wrong? Are you afraid?**_"

"I-if you spare me...I'll tell you how to stop Aedric-sama's plan."

"_**...What do you mean?**_"

"These sigils are activated if enough reiatsu is released into the air. However, if enough spiritual beings die here, the sigil will also be activated. Since we are both very powerful spiritual beings, if either one of us dies..."

"_**Then this sigil will be activated and Aedric will be one step closer to winning.**_"

"Y-yes! By sparing me, you'll foil his plans!"

"_**I see...heh."**_

-Stab-

"E-eh?"

Dainora stared dumbfounded at the blade now embedded in her chest. Ice slowly began to spread across her body.

"_**Thanks for telling me. Now that I know this, it shouldn't be that difficult to steal this power for myself!**_"

Once Dainora's body froze completely, Yuki stomped on her head, shattering it into a thousand pieces. A red glow then took over the area.

"_**That's right! If I take this power for myself, then Yuki will never come back!**_" she laughed. Yuki then glanced over by the riverside. Hisagi was still standing there.

"_**Heh...but first...**_"

Yuki suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Hisagi.

"_**Shuuhei...**_"

Hisagi suddenly jumped and spun around.

"_**Why do you look so scared? Aren't you happy to see that I'm okay?**_"

"...You're not my captain!" Hisagi snapped.

"_**Ha! That's not very nice, Shuuhei!!**_"

Yuki lifted her blade up to cut Hisagi down.

-Clash-

Yuki's blade was suddenly deflected. She slowly backed up as Hitsugaya faced her.

"_**...Shiro-nii,**_" Yuki smiled softly.

"Y-Yuki...what happened to you...?" Hitsugaya asked.

"Captain Hitsugaya, that's not Yuki..." Hisagi started.

"_**That's not very nice Shuuhei. Of course I'm Yuki; I'm just the side of her that you don't see so often.**_"

"Who are you and where is Yuki?!" Hitsugaya demanded.

"_**I already told you, I am-**_"

"Cut the bullshit and answer me now!"

"_**...She's sleeping. I'm sorry but I'm never letting her out. This is her own fault for being so weak.**_"

"...I see. Then I'll just force you to release her!"

Hitsugaya's reiatsu rose sharply. Yuki began to laugh maniacally as he did so.

"_**What do you think you are doing?! Do you really think that you can hurt your cute little sister?!**_"

Hitsugaya ignored her taunts and turned towards Hisagi.

"Hisagi...Hurry and get far away from here. I can't guarantee your safety if you stay here."

"I...understand..." Hisagi complied as he dashed off.

"_**Kukuku...I see that you are serious. Alright then, come! When I kill you, Yuki-chan will be so heartbroken that she'll never recover again!**_"

"Shut up, you monster...Ban...kai!"

* * *

"Ahhahahahahahahahaha!!"

-Slash-

Kenpachi swung through another Jaku. However, for every Jaku that he killed, more would only pop up. And for everyone that he killed, another would cut him and get his attention. Although he had already removed his eye patch, he was still having trouble with then. Kenpachi couldn't ask for anymore. A Jaku suddenly leapt wildly at him. Kenpachi skewered him quickly and threw the corpse at the others.

"What's wrong? I know that you're all stronger than this! Come, come at me and fight with all that you have!"

Not too far away, Ukitake and Kyouraku had their backs together. The two were completely surrounded.

"Just like old times, wouldn't you say?" Ukitake asked.

"Yeah, this brings back a lot of memories," Kyouraku nodded, "How do you suppose we take care of this?"

"Well, we could always try 'that'."

"Oh? Do you think you're up to it?"

"I'm ready when you are."

Several Jakus ran towards the two. Ukitake quickly stabbed his blades into the ground while Kyouraku crossed his across his chest. Several large pillars of water burst from the ground, sending the Jakus heading towards Ukitake into the air. Kyouraku then slashed his blades forward, creating a large whirlwind that enveloped the rest. Once they imminent threat was gone; Ukitake stabbed his blades into the ground once more, this time creating a large geyser. Lightning began to dance off his blades as he pulled them out of the ground. Ukitake then stabbed his blades into the geyser, electrifying it completely. During this time, Kyouraku had his own blades across his chest again. He then slashed forward to create a massive tornado. Both Ukitake and Kyouraku dashed away as the tornado hit the geyser, resulting in an electrified tornado. Soon after the combination, the tornado began to shoot off electrified bolts of water. As a bolt hit a Jaku, they became paralyzed. Once this happened, either Ukitake or Kyouraku would quickly reach the paralyzed Jaku and finish him off.

"Haaaaaaaaaaa!"  
While that was going on, Komamura was clearing his way through the army of Jakus with each swing of his bankai. Several more Jakus began rushing towards him. In response, Komamura stabbed his blade into the ground and dragged it in a complete circle around him. The giant followed suit, forming a large tear in the ground. Without having time to stop, the Jakus fell into the tear. Komamura then looked around to see how the others were doing. Ukitake and Kyouraku seemed to be doing alright, but Kenpachi was completely surrounded and was taking many hits. He was amazed that Kenpachi was even standing. As a few Jakus began to close in on him from behind, Komamura swung his blade and batted them out of the way.

-Clash-

Kenpachi blocked one of the axes coming towards him.

"Hey! This is my fight so back off!" Kenpachi growled at Komamura. Komamura began to object, but Kenpachi continued.

"I was never interested in teaming up with the three of you in the first place. I only went along with it just so long as I could get that kid's attention back onto me. He mocked the way I fight...nobody does that and lives!"

At that moment, Kenpachi noticed something odd. A good distance behind Komamura stood a lone Jaku. After quickly cutting down his current opponent, Kenpachi leapt into the air and homed in on the lone Jaku. The Jaku quickly looked up as Kenpachi drew closer to him.

"Hey! Why are you standing here all alone?!"

The Jaku quickly swung his axe upwards to meet Kenpachi's blade.

-Shiiiiiiik-

Kenpachi easily cut through his axe and nearly split the Jaku in two.

"You're not the real one, are you?" Kenpachi asked. Jaku slowly looked up at him and smiled.

"Nope!"

Suddenly, another Jaku popped out of his back and struck Kenpachi in the shoulder.

"I'm surprised that you would fall for such an obvious trap," Jaku mocked. Kenpachi quickly grabbed the axe and tore it out.

"Good...I would have been disappointed if you died that easily!"

With one quick slash, Kenpachi cut the Jaku cleanly in two. After doing so, he noticed that he was surrounded once again.

"Tch! Can't you do more than surround and charge blindly at me?! What happened to all that power that you showed off earlier?"

"None of us are as strong as the original," one explained.

"Yeah, yeah. But Jaku can hide his reiatsu really well so don't expect to find him that way," another added.

"But...It's not like we're that weak...'

"Yeah! Each of us is about as strong as a captain!"

"As strong as a captain? Don't make me laugh! The way you have all been fighting, I'd say that you are weaker than my lieutenant!" Kenpachi scoffed. The other Jakus began to laugh softly.

"Weeeeeeeeeeeell...I think it would be a bad idea if we all fought all out..."

"You said it! With so many powerful beings in one spot, we might accidentally destroy the city with our power alone!"

"Ah! Aedric-kun would be mad if we did that!"

As the Jakus began talking amongst each other, two Jakus a far distance away began plotting something.

"Ready?"

"Do it!"

One Jaku grabbed the other by his heels and began spinning him wildly. He then let go, sending the Jaku high above the battlefield. That one Jaku soon became two, then four, then eight. Soon the whole sky was covered in Jakus. The captains and the Jakus suddenly stopped fighting and looked to the sky. The captains looked in awe while the Jakus began shouting things like 'cool' and 'awesome'.

"Jaku Rain!" the Jakus in the sky shouted as they drew closer to the ground.

-Crash crash crash-

The Jakus hit the ground hard, destroying everything in their way. The captains struggled to dodge this immense attack. And if that weren't enough, a whole group of Jakus outside of the onslaught held their hands out and charged up the attacks of their own.

"Jaku Beam!" they all shouted in unison. The multiple ceros tore through what was left of the battlefield. Once the smoke cleared, there were tons of Jaku corpses littered about. The captains themselves were still alive, albeit barely. Each of them knew that they were on their last legs. As they tried to catch their breaths, they quickly became surrounded once more.

"You've got to be kidding me!' Kyouraku complained.

"I think...I've hit my limit..." Ukitake admitted.

"Hah...hah...I don't thin I can take another one of those," Komamura added.

"...Tch! I thought you all had more endurance than that!" Kenpachi grumbled. He was the only one left standing. Kenpachi could feel himself getting woozy as he tried to take a step forward.

_...Damn...At this rate, I'm gonna end up getting killed,_ Kenpachi thought to himself. As the Jakus drew closer, Kenpachi scanned the crowd to se if he could spot the real one. At that very moment, he saw something interesting.

"Ha...Found ya!" he grinned as he stormed into the crowd. Kenpachi began wildly slashing left and right, killing any Jaku stupid enough to get in his way. As he passed other Jakus, he received even more wounds. Kenpachi decided to ignore these for now and continued his rampage. He then turned sharply and lifted his blade high into the air.

"It's nice to see you again, Jaku Weiss!"

Jaku looked extremely shocked as he met Kenpachi's blade with his axe.

-Clash-

The two stood in a deadlock.

"Interesting...Since your axe didn't break, I guess that means that you're the real one!"

-Clash clash clash-

Both Jaku and Kenpachi began trading massive blows. After their blades met again, Kenpachi kicked Jaku, sending him back a few feet. Jaku quickly got himself together and saw Kenpachi charging up for a final blow. As he swung, Jaku swung as hard as he could to meet his blade.

-Clash-

The two stood still in yet another deadlock.

-Crrk...crrk...crash-

Jaku's axe suddenly shattered. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Kenpachi stabbed him in the chest.

"G-gah!!"

Blood spilled out of Jaku's mouth. The other Jakus suddenly stopped and watched the scene unfold. A strange red glow soon enveloped the battlefield.

"H-how...did..?" Jaku tried asking. Kenpachi responded by grabbing his left hand.

"There are still shards from Komamura's bankai still in your hand," Kenpachi explained. Jaku glanced at his hand and laughed softly.

"Heh...I can't believe that I was so careless..."

The other Jakus slowly began to disappear.

"But...Your efforts were worthless...with my death, my sigil is now activated. All that's left is Aedric-kun's. And since the clouds are parting...none of you will be able to stop him once the full moon comes out...haha...we've already...won..."

Jaku's head slumped over as he vanished. Once he was gone, Kenpachi fell over onto his butt.

"Tch! The others are dead already...what a pain..." Kenpachi complained. The other three soon joined him.

"I guess that means that Yama-jii and Aedric are the only ones left," Kyouraku said while looking to the horizon. Far in the distance, a gigantic pillar of fire could be seen, lighting up the darkened city.

* * *

Txaran's Puerco Espin translates to Porcupine.

And for those wondering, I got the ideas for Kyouraku's and Ukitake's abilities from the Bleach fighting games. Not the best source, but it's the best I had for now.


	18. Frost and Flame

...Okay, that's the last time I make any estimations on how long it takes for me to write. You never know when writer's block is gonna hit...

Well, I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

* * *

"Hmm...It looks like their fight is over," Yoruichi commented while glancing out the window of the Urahara Shoten. Urahara took another sip of his tea.

"I told you, the Gotei 13 have the situation under control. There's really no need for any of us to be involved," Urahara commented. Yoruichi continued to look out the window. There was a sullen look on her face.

"Hm? What's wrong? If you are worried about Aedric then don't be. The head captain is far more powerful than the last time he fought against him. And at the moment, Aedric's reiatsu is far lower than his."

"That's not what I'm worried about...That kid that those four fought against...I could have sworn that I heard him say that his name was Jaku Weiss..."

A serious look overtook Urahara as he set his cup down.

"Jaku...Weiss? Are you positive?"

"Almost certain...Do you think that he might have something to do with Merrem Weiss?"

"Let's not jump to any conclusions. The name might just be a complete coincidence."

"I realize that, but we can't deny the possibility. Remember, the 2nd division was the only division that was privy to the information regarding Merrem Weiss's disappearance into Hueco Mundo. The Central 46 issued that we were to find and recapture Merrem, dead or alive. The group that went after him only had one survivor and he was only kept alive so that he could report that Merrem was alive and had turned against us. Not even his own lieutenant was spared..."

"...I agree with you. This is too big of a coincidence. After this is all over we should contact Soul Society and let them know that Merrem may be the true mastermind behind all of this."

Yoruichi nodded and looked away once more.

"But...what sort of relationship does this Jaku Weiss have with Merrem?" she pondered. Urahara shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Who knows? It's a little too late to ask him now. But...there is something that I have been wondering about though...Only the head of the stealth forces are allowed to read the 'Merrem Report', right?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"Then let me ask you this...Was the dead body of Merrem's lieutenant ever confirmed?"

Yoruichi paused for a moment.

"...I honestly can't remember. It has been over 100 years since I've read the report."

"I see...I'm just curious but do you at least remember his lieutenant's name? It might provide more clues."

"Yeah, I think it was...Faedyn Quartz..."

* * *

-Shoom-

A blue comet suddenly tore through the sky.

-Shoom-

A second comet appeared and chased after the first. The first comet pulled a quick u-turn and came at the second.

-Clash-

The comets quickly separated. One quickly shot into the sky and the other gave chase. It didn't take long for the second comet to catch up to the first.

-Clash clash clash-

The sound of swords clashing against each other could be heard as the two comets flew beside each other.

-Clash-

A large wave of frost spread out from the two comets as they stood in a standstill. The figures of Yuki and Hitsugaya took place of the two comets. Yuki had a smug look on her face while Hitsugaya looked horribly irritated. Yuki then pointed her fore finger towards Hitsugaya as if it were a makeshift gun.

"_**Bala!**_"

The blast came quickly, but Hitsugaya quickly defended against it by wrapping his icy wings around his body. Once he did this, Yuki lifted her blade and began slamming it onto the wings.

"_**What's wrong, Shiro-nii? You seem to be holding back!**_" Yuki mocked as she continued her assault. Hitsugaya's wings slowly began to crack.

-Fwoosh-

The wings opened up quickly, pushing Yuki back. Hitsugaya then made a quick attack, but Yuki easily parried it.

"Don't ever call me by that name!" Hitsugaya warned.

"_**Kukuku...Looks like I hit a nerve,**_" Yuki smiled. Hitsugaya pushed Yuki back, sending her sliding back a few feet. He then set out to chase after her but she quickly pointed her sword at him.

"_**What's wrong? You're only going to succeed in getting yourself killed if you keep holding back like this!**_"

A dark energy began to swirl around the points of her blade.

"_**Cero!**_"

Hitsugaya immediately dashed to his left to avoid the cero. Once he was out of its range, he noticed that Yuki finished drawing a circle made of ice and snow in the sky before her.

"_**Heh...Gottcha!**_"

She then cut through the snowy circle.

"_**Shimo Nami!**_"

A large blizzard immediately sprung forth heading directly towards Hitsugaya. Hitsugaya quickly lifted his sword into the air.

"Daiguren Hyorinmaru!"

A large dragon made of water shot out of his blade and took the blizzard head on.

-HWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

A large gust of frozen air sent both Yuki and Hitsugaya flying back. Once the wind subsided, Hitsugaya opened his eyes. The entire landscape in front of him had transformed into an icy wasteland. The ground, trees and buildings were completely encased in ice and large icy mountains littered the landscape. Hitsugaya looked around frantically; Yuki was nowhere to be found. He quickly flew high above the city and looked down. There was still no sign of her.

"Yuki! Where are you?!" he called out, fearing the worst.

"_**You shouldn't give away your position like that, Shiro-nii!**_" a voice from behind spoke.

-Clash-

Hitsugaya barely managed to parry the incoming attack. Yuki quickly began attacking wildly, forcing Hitsugaya back.

"_**Hahahahaha! You're just as stupid as your sister, you know that? I can't believe that you thought that such a weak attack could stop me!**_"

Yuki then quickly kicked Hitsugaya in the gut, stopping him completely. She then lifted her left arm up and slammed it down onto him. Hitsugaya went soaring down straight through the roof of a nearby building.

-Crash-

"U-uuuuugh..." Hitsugaya moaned as he slowly got to his feet. He then glanced up; he had fallen through two floors of the building. The building, both the inside and out, was completely covered in ice. Hitsugaya could easily see his own reflection in the ice. Sensing danger, Hitsugaya immediately leapt backwards.

-Crash-

Yuki tore through the ceiling and straight through the floor where Hitsugaya was standing. He stood there for a moment, waiting for Yuki to pop up out of the floor.

"_**Bala!**_"

Several incredibly fast attacks began tearing through the floor. Hitsugaya began to dodge and weave around them, but they were slowly becoming more and more numerous. Giving up, he slammed his sword onto the floor and entered the next room down.

-Clash-

Yuki and Hitsugaya's blades met once more. The two slowly slid away from each other.

"_**Ha!**_"

Yuki quickly rushed towards Hitsugaya. Hitsugaya immediately swung his sword, but Yuki quickly ducked under the blade. She then readied her sword as she continued to slide towards Hitsugaya. Hitsugaya pulled his sword back and prepared to defend himself.

-Clash-

He managed to barely parry the attack. He then found himself floating off the ground. Yuki continued her barrage of attacks, preventing him falling to his feet.

-Clash clash clash-

In an effort to end the barrage, Hitsugaya slammed his blade down as hard as he could.

-Clash-

The two ended up in a deadlock. Yuki was pushed back somewhat from the attack, however, a smile graced her face.

-Splat-

"G-gah!"

With her free hand, Yuki shoved her hand into her brother's gut.

"_**Kukuku...Is this really the best you can do, Shiro-nii? At this rate, you'll never be able to save Yuki-chan,**_" Yuki mocked as she began moving her fingers around in his stomach. Hitsugaya grimaced from the pain. His mouth slowly began to move, yet no words came out.

"_**Oh? Did you say something, Shiro-nii? Speak up, I can't hear you,**_" she teased. Hitsugaya took a couple of deep breaths.

"I-I s-said...you let your guard down..."

-Slam-

Several pillars of ice suddenly slammed into Yuki's body, covering everything but her head.

"_**W-what the hell?!**_" she shouted as she tried to break free. As she did so, Hitsugaya grabbed a hold of her mask.

"Something tells me that if I tear this thing off, Yuki will come back," he said as he began to pull on it.

"_**W-what are you doing?! Cut that out, now!!**_"

-Shatter-

One of Yuki's arms suddenly shot through her icy prison and grabbed a hold of Hitsugaya's face.

"_**Fine then! If you want to tear off my mask, then I'll just tear off your face in response!!**_"

Hitsugaya then began to run through the building while pushing Yuki.

"_**Ha! If you think that's going to stop me then-**_"

-Crash-

Hitsugaya used Yuki as a battering ram and slammed her through a wall.

"_**H-hey! That hurt you bastard!**_"

-Crash crash-

They soon went through two more walls. Afterwards they were back outside in the city. Yuki's grip had loosened so Hitsugaya quickly kicked her and sent her flying backwards. Once she was a far enough distance away, Yuki used her free arm to bust through the rest of her icy prison. She glared at Hitsugaya, who held a few large chunks of her mask.

"_**...Tch! You think you're so smart, huh? If you break my mask then Yuki will come back? Something like that would never happen!**_"

Yuki then placed her hand over the broken mask. Within seconds, the mask reformed itself.

"_**See that? I can reform my mask as many times as I want. It's not like breaking it is going to do anything.**_"

"You're lying. You were scared when I grabbed your mask and tried to break it. It's because you will disappear when it's gone, right?"

Yuki continued to glare at Hitsugaya.

"_**I have no idea of what you are talking about. I just so happen to like this mask, that's all. No matter what you do, Yuki-chan is never going to come back, remember that.**_"

She then formed a large circle made of ice and snow in front of her with her sword.

"_**Since you've been a good boy up until now, I'm going to show you something neat,**_" Yuki proclaimed as she stabbed her sword in the center of the circle, "_**This is something that I just thought up a little while ago. I was going to test this out on Aedric but I thought that I might as well show it to Shiro-nii first.**_"

The ice and snow began to swirl around the points of the sword as a dark energy formed.

"_**Do you think you could test out the strength of this attack for me?**_"

Hitsugaya knew that there was no way that he could dodge this attack and no way that he could stop her from pulling it off. All he could do is prepare himself and use all his strength to stop it. Yuki grinned widely as lifted his sword up.

"_**Hahahahahahaha!! That's right! Show me what you can do!**_"

The circle then converged onto the singular point in between the points of her sword.

"_**Heladas Cero!**_"

A blue cero shot forth from Yuki's zanpakuto. As it tore through the sky, a trail of ice and snow spun around the blast.

"Daiguren Hyou-"

"_**Bala!**_"

The bala slammed into Hitsugaya's zanpakuto, knocking it from his hands. Hitsugaya could do nothing but watch as his blade fell into the city below.

-Splat-

Without paying attention, the cero tore through Hitsugaya's chest like it was nothing. He stared dumbfounded at the hole in his chest. Ice began to quickly spread out of his wound and around his body. Hitsugaya quickly lost his balance and fell towards the city below. Yuki stared in shock as her brother fell.

"_**I...did it...Heh...haha...AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! I did it! I did it! Did you see that Yuki-chan?! I killed your precious Shiro-nii!! Hahaha, I told you! I told you that this would happen! Once Aedric activates the last point, all your friends will die and their power will be mine! Once that happens, you'll never be able to regain control of your body! Hahaha, drown! Drown in your despair!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!**_"

After taking a few deep breaths, Yuki finally regained her composure.

"_**Well, I guess my job here is done. All that's left is to play the waiting game,**_" she grinned as she got ready to set off.

"...You let your guard down again..."

"_**?! W-what?!**_"

Before she could react, Hitsugaya quickly flew at her. Keeping his momentum, get grabbed a hold of her mask and began pulling on it.

-Crack...crack...shatter-

"_**AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH,**_" Yuki screamed as her mask shattered. Her reiatsu quickly began to plummet as her hair and eyes began change back to normal.

"_**...Tch! You got me in my blind spot...to think that I'd fall for the same trick as Yuki-chan did...I really must be as stupid as she is...**_" Yuki muttered. In spite of disappearing once more, she gave Hitsugaya a large grin.

"_**But don't think that you've won just yet. I cannot be killed. You better keep a close eye on your sister, Shiro-nii. I will be back...and next time...**_"

Yuki didn't get to finish as her eyes closed suddenly. Her bankai quickly broke apart and her unconscious body fell towards the city. Hitsugaya quickly flew to her and caught her before she hit the ground. He then gently placed her onto the ground and broke from his bankai. He himself then quickly fell to his knees.

"Gah...no...not yet...I can't fall asleep just yet," he cursed. He knew that the 4th division should arrive soon to treat both Yuki and himself. He just needed to stay awake just until then. As Hitsugaya struggled to stand, a large explosion shook the city...

* * *

-Clash-

-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM-

A large burst of flame burst out as Yamamoto and Aedric's blades clashed against each other. During their battle, the two had multiple cuts all along their bodies. However, these wounds were nothing serious so they both ignored them and concentrated on the matter at hand.

-Clash clash clash-

The two swung their blades madly at each other. The flames flowing off of Yamamoto's zanpakuto flowed around Aedric and landed upon the ground, causing small fires in the area. Aedric's immense reiatsu was somehow acing as a type of barrier against the flames. Aedric quickly shot to the right, dodging Yamamoto's blow. Yamamoto's blade hit the ground strongly, leaving him wide open. Aedric took this opportunity to counterattack, yet upon slamming his blade onto the ground, flames suddenly began firing out of the ground like geysers. Aedric leapt backwards several meters in an effort to avoid this. At this moment, he realized that the fires on the ground made it much more difficult for him to land. As he continued hopping from one spot to another, the flaming geysers became more and more numerous and began to quickly close in on him. As he landed once more he began charging energy in his left hand. Aedric then shot his hand forward, aiming towards Yamamoto.

"**Cero!**"

The blast soared through the fires on the ground, putting them out instantly. Once the cero neared him, Yamamoto simply batted the attack away as if it were nothing. In this instant, Aedric was in front of Yamamoto.

-Clash-

Yamamoto managed to quickly stop the attack and put the two into a deadlock of power. He then shot his arm towards Aedric's head.

"Hadou no. 88..."

Aedric quickly formed an energy blast in his free hand and slammed it into Yamamoto's hand.

"Hiryugekizokushintenraiho!"

"**Cero!**"

-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM-

The resulting explosion sent the two flying back. Once they landed, they both slid on the ground for a good distance. When they stopped, they looked up and one another and charged towards each other once more. Once they reached striking distance, Aedric leapt into the air, dodging Yamamoto's next attack. Aedric then landing on the edge of a nearby building. He gave a quick glance in Yamamoto's direction and began to leap up the building. Not wasting any time, Yamamoto gave chase by running up the walls of the building. He then shot a quick burst of fire up the building towards Aedric. Aedric responded by leaping backwards and falling down the building, passing Yamamoto along the way. He then landed on the edge once more and leapt up, ready to strike Yamamoto from below. Yamamoto quickly spun around and faced Aedric.

-Clash-

Once the blades clashed against one another, Aedric quickly shot to his right and began running up the wall towards the top. Yamamoto began chasing Aedric once more. Because of his incredible speed, it did not take long for him to catch up. Aedric, however, expected this and slowed down slightly so that Yamamoto would be running at his side.

-Clash clash clash-

The two once again began clashing their blades wildly at each other as they ran up the building. This only lasted a few seconds as Aedric shot himself backwards and leapt onto the top of the building. Not soon after, Yamamoto joined him. The flames around his zanpakuto swelled even more so.

"Joukaku Enjou."

A large wave of fire suddenly wrapped itself around the rooftop.

"There, now there is nowhere that you can run off to this time, Aedric Nat," Yamamoto proclaimed. Aedric simply shook his head.

"**No...I was not running from you, Yamamoto-Genryusai Shigekuni. I just thought that we could use a little change of scenery, that's all. There is no way that I would ever run from you, let alone a shinigami,**" Aedric explained while he formed more energy into his hand.

"**Cero!**"

The blast came quickly, but Yamamoto easily batted it away once more.

"It seems that you haven't improved one bit since our last encounter...No, I should say that it seems as if you are _weaker_ than before..."

"**That is true. At this moment I am weaker than I once was. However, that is only because the moon is currently covered by thick clouds. If the moon was out, then my powers would far surpass yours.**"

"That will not happen. I will finish you off before that point."

"**Fufufu...I may be weaker, but my strength is more than enough to fight against you.**"

The flames around Yamamoto's zanpakuto began flickering wildly. Soon enough, a large sea of blazing fire began to converge around Aedric. With a quick sonido, Aedric escaped through a small gap in the flames above him. He then pointed his own zanpakuto towards Yamamoto.

"**Fragmentos de la Luna**."

A large circle appeared beneath Yamamoto. Yamamoto quickly noticed this and dashed backwards. Just as he left the circle, thousands of glass-like shards shot up into the air. Aedric then sped himself back towards Yamamoto, a cero already charging in his hands. Yamamoto then began charging towards Aedric as if to meet his challenge.

-Crack crack-

The two suddenly stopped. The roof that they stood on slowly began to crack and crumble. The building they were standing on was completely engulfed in flames and was now starting to fall apart.

-Crash-

The roof suddenly caved in, drawing the adversaries closer to one another.

-Clash clash clash-

The two continued fighting despite what was going on. Each floor began falling apart as they continued down the collapsing building. However the two ignored this and continued concentrating on one another. It did not seem to bother them that they would soon hit the ground and that they would be buried alive in this rubble.

-Clash clash clash-

The two continued their cosmic dance of hate and enmity. Once one would survive this ordeal. Just as the floor beneath them neared the bottom of the building, Aedric quickly leapt away from Yamamoto. He then slashed through the wall and leaped out into the city. He slowly turned back toward the building while charging up another attack.

"**Gran Rey Cero!**"

The attack hit the building directly. The sheer force of the blast sent what was left of the building flying in every direction. Aedric laughed madly as he landed onto the roof of a nearby building. However, just as he landed, his laughter came to an abrupt stop.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

With all his strength, Yamamoto managed to throw Aedric's gran rey cero away from him. Aedric looked down in shock.

"**What the...**"

In that moment, Yamamoto appeared behind Aedric.

"It's over..."

-Clash-

Aedric quickly spun around and blocked Yamamoto's sword with one of his elbow blades.

-Crrrk...Crack-

Upon seeing the cracks in Aedric's elbow blade, Yamamoto began pushing harder.

-Ching-

Soon enough, the blade broke off completely. Not long after it flew off, the flames around Ryujin Jakka overtook Aedric's body. However, instead of shock, Aedric began laughing as he was set on fire. Yamamoto aimed to finish Aedric off, but he soon noticed that there were burn marks appearing on his skin as well. In this moment of confusion, Aedric backed away from Yamamoto and blew the flames out by charging his reiatsu. Aedric then quickly dashed at the confused Yamamoto.

"Bakudou no. 61, Rikujoukourou!"

Six bars of light suddenly shot into Aedric's body. Yamamoto quickly reached Aedric and lifted his blade into the air.

-Shatter-

Aedric however broke the bars and backed off.

-Slit-

However he was a bit too late. Aedric received a large cut from his right shoulder to his left waist. Just as soon as he received this blow, an exact cut suddenly formed on Yamamoto's body as well. While Yamamoto looked in shock, Aedric smiled as he slowly backed away.

"**It has been about 700 years since we last fought; I'm not surprised that you forgot about my power. As you can see, any sort of wound that you inflict upon my body will instantly be done to yours. Even if you manage to kill me, you would probably kill yourself in the process,**" Aedric explained.

"Ah yes...now I remember...But if I remember correctly, your power has a glaring weakness to it..." Yamamoto pointed out.

"**Yes, there is a weakness to it. But...it doesn't make a bit of difference now, even if you do remember it.**"

Aedric pointed up towards the sky. Yamamoto quickly glanced upwards. The clouds had finally separated and the full moon now shined down upon the city. Suddenly, the air around the area got much thicker. Yamamoto watched in awe as Aedric's reiatsu began to skyrocket. His powers were now far beyond what he was before. They were even beyond his own...

"**...Heh.**"

Aedric suddenly disappeared.

-Slam-

"Augh!"

Aedric suddenly appeared in front of Yamamoto and punched him. The resulting blow sent Yamamoto flying back hundred of meters. Aedric laughed at these turn of events.

"**Now you see! This is my true power!**"

As Aedric readied himself to chase after Yamamoto, a cut suddenly appeared on his shoulder. Aedric turned around to see Yamamoto standing behind him a few meters away. However, he did not have a cut on his shoulder.

"You may be more powerful than I; you have not learned anything these past 700 years about combat. It no longer matters how powerful you are, Aedric Nat, you could never defeat me even if you train yourself for a thousand years. I know how your power works perfectly well. It will only strike me if I do not move when I attack. So long as I keep moving while attacking you, you will never even harm me."

"**Haha...AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Yes! This is what I expected! It would have been a waste if you could not survive against me at full power. Hahaha...I was right to wait until tonight.**"

"You seem fairly confident in your abilities...However, you shouldn't forget that I have yet to have used my full power..."

"**You mean your bankai, right? I hate to break it to you but even if you used your bankai, you would never be able to defeat me. After all...even from the beginning of this fight, I have been holding back as well...**"

"And what exactly have you been holding back up until now?"

"**Hahaha...I'm sure that you will die once you see this. Out of all the hollows in Hueco Mundo, I am the only one fit to being king. Out of all the vasto lorde...no, out of all the arrancar, there is no hollow who has gained the power that I am about to show you, hahaha.**"

Aedric's reiatsu began to rise sharply as his body shook violently.

"**Hahaha...let me show you the absolute peak of a hollows power...**"

"What...are you...?"

Suddenly, Aedric's body stopped shaking. With slight grin, he looked at Yamamoto in pity.

"**Ban...kai...**"

* * *

And that's the end of this chapter!! I'm sorry; I just couldn't help myself but to stop it there. Until next week!

As for the translations:

Yuki's Heladas Cero translates simply to Frost Cero.

Aedric's Fragmentos de la Luna translates to Fragments of the Moon.


	19. Rebirth

"**Ban...kai...**"

Crrrk crrrk crrrk

Upon saying that word, Aedric's body slowly began to crack. A bright light shone through each of the cracks. The ground began to shake violently as more light began to pour off of his body. Aedric then suddenly spread his arms outward.

"**HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!**"

Gale force winds suddenly began to blow off of Aedric's body. Everything around him was quickly torn to pieces. Yamamoto, however, stood his ground. The winds were not able to move him. He held his arm over his head so that he could see exactly what was happening to Aedric. Suddenly the light shone brighter than ever. The entire city was suddenly illuminated in this light. Yet just as soon as it appeared, the light quickly receded back into Aedric's body.

"What...was that?" Yamamoto asked.

"...Did you not hear me the first time, Yamamoto-Genryusai Shigekuni?" Aedric asked in a mocking manner. His body had basically changed back to how it was. For the most part, he looked like a shinigami if you ignored the hole in his chest.

"I said bankai. This shouldn't surprise you that much. An arrancar's _resurrección_ is the same as your shikai; it shouldn't be too surprising that only the most powerful of arrancar can achieve renacimiento."

"Rena...cimiento?"

"An arrancar's version of bankai. I personally prefer the sound of bankai more so than renacimiento. It's faster to say and more to the point, even if it is a shinigami term."

Yamamoto responded by tightening his grip on his zanpakuto.

_I had anticipated that he would have become more powerful after he became an arrancar but to learn something similar to a bankai...I underestimated him..._he thought to himself. He then glanced around the area.

_...I do not see his bankai at all...If I attack now, I may fall into his trap. It may be best if I-_

Yamamoto paused as Aedric placed the point of his sword onto the ground. With one swift motion Aedric made a deep cut along the ground.

-Slit-

Yamamoto stared in shock as a similar cut appeared across his torso.

"W-what...?"

Aedric continued to cut the ground. With each cut, a new wound appeared onto Yamamoto's body. It did not take long before Yamamoto was covered in his own blood.

"How do you like it, Yamamoto-Genryusai Shigekuni? How do you like my bankai?"

Aedric then shot his left arm forward.

"Cero!"

The blast quickly flew past Yamamoto. Yamamoto watched as the cero neared a far off building.

-Boooooooooom-

The cero hit the building directly, destroying it completely. At the same time, new wounds and burns appeared onto Yamamoto's body. Yamamoto quickly fell to his knees as blood poured from his mouth.

"Unlike _resurrección_, an arrancar's renacimiento separates the core of our powers from us. By doing so, our powers are no longer restricted to our bodies. My power in particular was 'reflection'. If my body was ever attacked, my opponent would receive the same wounds on their body. Therefore, it was nearly impossible for someone to kill me and live themselves. My bankai, however, separates this ability from my body and spreads it around a radius around me. Anything within this radius that is damaged will be reflected back onto whomever I choose. Therefore, if I think that the ground below me is equal to your right arm..."

Aedric stabbed his sword into the ground. At the exact moment, Yamamoto's right arm was cut as if an invisible blade stabbed through it.

"Your arm will be cut. It is impossible to avoid this fate. And with the full moon shining down upon me, my bankai should extend throughout this entire city."

Aedric laughed softly to himself.

"What do you say now, Yamamoto-Genryusai Shigekuni? It is impossible to defeat me now. If I wanted to, I could stab the ground right now and end your miserable life. And even if you do somehow kill me, you'll only activate the sigil and all life in this city will die. There, haha, is nothing you can do!"

"...That...may be so...however, I refuse to go down so easily. Aedric Nat...I will defeat you, even if it costs me my life!"

"Did you not even hear me? If you kill me, all life in this city will die! Are you really willing to allow all your subordinates to die, shinigami?!"

"Who...said anything about killing you? It's very risky for me to do this in my current state; however I shall not allow you to destroy this city. I should have used this back then..."

The flames around Yamamoto suddenly began to burn hotter and brighter than ever before.

"Bank-"

-Slam-

Before Yamamoto could finish, Aedric dashed towards him with a quick sonido and slammed his face onto the ground.

"Heh...It's a little too late for that. You didn't honestly think that I would allow you to use your bankai on me now did you?"

Aedric then twirled his sword around in his hand. And, with one quick motion, he stabbed the blade through Yamamoto's chest.

"G-Gah...!"

"Now, lie there in your defeat. With the sheer amount of reiatsu that has been used in this area, this sigil will activate soon," Aedric said as he began to walk away.

"Are you running away from me...Aedric Nat?!" Yamamoto yelled. Aedric stopped and slowly turned his head back towards Yamamoto.

"Running away? No, I just figured that it's time for me to head for the central point, that's all. Besides, I would like to leave as many captain level shinigami left alive when all the sigils activate. After all, your powers will all be mine. It would be a waste to kill you, the strongest of the shinigami. Besides...I want you to be the one to see me when I become king."

And with that, Aedric vanished. Yamamoto gritted his teeth as he grabbed hold of Aedric's sword.

"You are as greedy as ever, Aedric Nat. You'll regret not killing me while you had the chance..."

* * *

Far, far away, Shinta slowly opened his eyes. His vision was heavily blurred, all he could see was a dark shadow standing above him.

"I see that you have regained consciousness, Murakami-san," the motherly voice spoke.

"R-Retsu...ne...?"

Shinta suddenly shot himself upwards. He then quickly lost his balance and fell back onto the ground with a loud crash.

"You shouldn't move around so much. I only just finished healing most of your wounds," Unohana explained. Shinta slowly pulled himself up and looked around. For some unknown reason, the entire area had a strange red glow emanating from the ground. Sensing his confusion, Unohana spoke up.

"This glow came about shortly after your battle. I've heard from some of the others that a similar red glow appeared after they defeated an arrancar at each point. I believe that it is safe to say that by defeating our opponents we unknowingly helped them in their goal."

"I see..." Shinta said as he looked towards the ground. By defeating Xzayvion he only helped Aedric in the long run.

"But I must admit, your battle with that arrancar was very impressive, Murakami-san. I am glad to see that you have improved since coming to the human world."

"Eh?! Y-you mean you...saw my fight...?"

"Yes, both Isane-san and I watched your battle."

"I-Isane-ne too?!"

"Don't worry, we won't tell anybody about your bankai. But...I believe that you should stop using it. At your current level, that bankai of yours will only succeed in killing you in the long run."

"...I understand. Kurohana told me the same thing and I've decided that I won't use it anymore until I can use it without any drawbacks. This battle was the only exception..."

"...So this arrancar was your killer all along. Now that you have avenged yourself, maybe you can start concentrating on more important things, like healing kidou."

"R-Retsu-ne? You're not...threatening me...are you?"

"Now why would I have to threaten you? I just felt like reminding you of your duties as a member of the 4th division were, that's all," Unohana explained with a bright smile. Shinta however couldn't shake the fact that he felt just a slight bit of murderous intent behind that smile.

* * *

"Alright, he's coming this way. Is everyone ready?" Renji asked the others. While all the other captains were recovering for the final battle, Renji, Matsumoto, Ikkaku and Yumichika stood ready to intercept Aedric. Those four were the last line of defense before the central point. All they had to do was stall Aedric long enough for the captains to recover.

"Wow, that's a pretty nasty reiatsu he's got there. It's no wonder why the old man lost," Ikkaku commented.

"Do you think it's possible to even stall this guy?" Matsumoto asked.

"If worse comes to worse we could always just run away," Yumichika suggested.

"I think it's about time we got started...Bankai!"

A large bone snake suddenly appeared around Renji. The snake roared loudly as it jutted forwards towards Aedric.

-Slam-

With one hand, Aedric stopped the snake in its tracks. Aedric then tightened his grip forming several cracks on the snake's skull. He then pulled his arm back quickly, breaking the snake into several fragments.

"Th-that's...!" Renji stammered. Aedric had effortlessly destroyed his bankai; it didn't even slow down his pace.

"It's not over yet!"

The fragments of Zabimaru flew into the air above Aedric. They then suddenly slammed down onto where Aedric was. Aedric, however, avoided the whole attack with a quick sonido and simply stood a few feet away from the attack. Renji, on the other hand, was now covered in wounds, as if he were hit by his own attack. Once Renji fell down to his knees, Matsumoto dashed forward.

"Growl, Haineko!"

Matsumoto's blade turned into ash and quickly homed in on Aedric. Aedric ignored the ash as it began to slash him. He only did this because he knew that the ash was not strong enough to even scratch him. As it attacked him, Matsumoto's body became covered in slash marks. Once she realized this, she stopped her attack immediately. Once she did so, Aedric shot past her with a quick sonido. Matsumoto fell to the ground as blood spurted from her shoulders. As soon as she fell, Ikkaku shot he spear towards Aedric's head. Aedric tilted his head enough to dodge the blow and grabbed hold of the spear. He then quickly pulled it back, dragging Ikkaku towards him. Once he was within range, Aedric shot his knee into Ikkaku's gut. All that was left was Yumichika.

"...He's a monster..." he commented. Yumichika then readied himself, "I guess I have no choice but to-"

Aedric didn't bother to hear Yumichika out. With quick motion he appeared behind Yumichika and shoved his hand though his chest. Aedric then kicked him off of his hand and continued onwards.

"_**Getsuga Tenshou!**_"

Aedric slowly lifted his right arm into the air and held the Getsuga Tenshou back. At that moment, Ichigo appeared in front of Aedric and slashed.

-Clash-

With his other arm, Aedric completely blocked Ichigo's assault. Ichigo stared in shock as he saw that he didn't even scratch him.

"...That's funny. I've always thought that you Vaizard's were stronger than this."

-Slit-

With one attack, Aedric nearly cleaved Ichigo into two with his hand. As his mask began to shatter, Aedric kicked Ichigo hard, sending him flying towards his friends a far distance away.

"K-Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime cried as she began healing his wounds. Chad immediately stepped up and fired an energy blast towards Aedric. Aedric responded by pointing his finger forward.

"Bala."

The bala tore through the energy blast and hit Chad's arm directly, tearing it to pieces.

"S-Sado-kun!"

Orihime quickly extended her healing radius to heal Chad's wounds as well. Aedric continued walking towards them, nothing that anybody threw at him even slowly him down in the least bit. At this moment, Ishida stepped up and readied his bow. Ishida then pointed his bow towards the sky and fired off thousands upon thousands of arrows. The arrows rained down upon Aedric leaving barely any room to dodge. However, Aedric easily dodged them with several sonidos to dash to his sides, dodging each of the groups of arrows by mere inches each time. Upon seeing this, Ishida readied his bow once more. Before he could do anything, Aedric suddenly appeared right beside him. Ishida slowly turned his head and watched as Aedric looked down upon him.

"It's been quite a long time since I've seen one of your kind, Quincy."

-Smack-

Upon saying that, Aedric smacked Ishida with his arm, sending him flying a few feet and shattering several bones in his body. Orihime immediately concentrated on healing him. Then, Aedric walked towards her. Orihime shook violently as Aedric slowly walked past her. His reiatsu immediately sent her to her knees and had her gasping for air. As he passed by her, Aedric whispered something into her ear.

"Make sure that you don't let any of them die."

And with that, Aedric continued on to his destination, leaving Orihime in tears.

* * *

Well...for as short as that one was it certainly took me a while to write it now didn't it?

Anyways, 'Renacimiento' roughly means 'Rebirth'.


	20. The Final Rush

"...Murakami-san, step back," Unohana suddenly spoke. Shinta was about to speak up when he felt it. Coming towards their direction was an absolutely massive reiatsu. Shinta began to tremble uncontrollably and began breathing erratically. And that's when he appeared. Shinta didn't need to ask who this was. There was nobody other than Aedric who could have this much power. Suddenly, Shinta fell to the ground face first. As he did so, Unohana began walking forward.

"Do not try to get up, I'll take care of this," Unohana said as she began walking towards Aedric. Despite the fact that a captain was walking towards him, Aedric refused to slow down.

"I see...so you are Aedric Nat. I am-"

"Unohana Retsu, captain of the 4th division. I know fully well of whom you are. You are among the eldest of the captains and a skilled healer. However...that is all that you are. A medic, nothing more," Aedric spoke as he began picking up speed, "The likes of you will not even slow me down. Begone from my sight, shinigami."

Unohana, however, responded to his challenge by walking even faster towards him.

"It is my duty as a captain to prevent you from going any further, even if it costs me my life. However, you are mistaken. My specialty may be in healing yet I am among the strongest of my colleges. It would be best if you do not take me lightly."

She then slowly unsheathed her zanpakuto.

"Bankai."

* * *

"U-ugh..." Yuki groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. A sharp pain tore through her as she tried to stand.

"Ah! Please try not to move too much, your wounds haven't been completely healed yet," Isane spoke up. Yuki's vision slowly returned to normal, showing that the blurry figures before her were her brother and Isane.

"S-Shiro-nii? What are you doing here and...where is Dainora?" Yuki asked while fanatically looking around her. A look of shock quickly overcame Hitsugaya's face.

"You mean...you don't remember?" he asked.

"Remember what?"

Hitsugaya then let out a sigh.

"You fell unconscious while fighting. I ended up getting hurt just trying to save you. Honestly...you're a captain now, you can't rely on me to save you every time."

"H-hey! What's that supposed to mean? I can take care of myself just fine!"

As Yuki continued to yell at him, a somber look came over Hitsugaya. He couldn't shake those words from his mind.

You better keep a close eye on your sister...

I will be back...

Gritting his teeth, Hitsugaya quickly stood up and stumbled towards Yuki.

"Ah! You really shouldn't-"

Once he reached her, Hitsugaya fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"W-what the?" Yuki suddenly spoke up.

"I promise...I won't let you get hurt anymore, I swear it," he said as he hugged her even tighter.

"W-what are you talking about? Didn't you just say something about not relying on you? Hey!"

* * *

-*Crash*-

"A-argh...!"

Unohana slowly tried to get to her feet shortly after being sent through a tree. Her legs wobbled violently as she turned to face Aedric, of whom still did not have a single wound on his body.

"...I expected more out of you, shinigami. Not even your bankai was even remotely a threat to me..." Aedric spoke in disappointment. Suddenly he appeared next to Unohana.

-*Slam*-

And with one quick motion, he slammed her head into the ground.

"Now stay down, it would be a waste to allow you to die," he added as he began to walk away.

"B-blossom...K-K-Kuro...ha..." Shinta tried to choke out as he attempted to stand in Aedric's way.

"...Move aside..."

Aedric kicked the ground, sending Shinta flying towards him. Aedric then caught the flying Shinta by his neck and held him up.

"...I thought your reiatsu felt familiar, you're the one who killed Xzayvion. I'm not sure how a weakling such as yourself could have killed him, but I have no need for someone as weak as yourself to become a part of me," Aedric said coldly as he charged a cero in his other hand.

"B...ban..."

"Murakami-san! Don't use-" Unohana shouted as she attempted to get up.

"K-kai..."

Shinta's zanpakuto suddenly split into its shield form and shot outwards.

"W-what did you say...?" Aedric asked in shock. In that moment he felt a large amount of pressure around his body. The blades then separated from their posts and flew straight towards him.

"...Heh, I see now..." Aedric grinned. He quickly dragged his foot in a circle around himself. Just as he did that, every blade of Shinta's was knocked out of the sky. As Shinta's eyes widened, Aedric slammed him into the ground. Shinta immediately tried to get back onto his feet, but Aedric stomped his foot onto his back.

"A bankai...huh? Now it makes sense, it's no wonder why Xzayvion lost. If a weakling pulled out such a trump card out of nowhere, there would be no way to respond to it. However...that doesn't change your status from trash. Even now, I can feel the pressure around my body dissipating. What exactly were you planning to do with such a weak ban-"

Suddenly more blades began to erupt from the ground. Aedric took a quick step back to avoid them. At that very moment, Shinta swung as hard as he could. Aedric responded by attempting to parry the pointless attack with his arm.

-*Slice*-

"W-what?" Aedric said in complete shock as his arm was cut clean off.

"AUGH!" Shinta cried out as his own arm was suddenly separated from his body.

"...Haha...How interesting!" Aedric cried out, "It appears that I've underestimated you, shinigami. To think one such as you could have an ability to even harm me."

Aedric then bent over and picked up his arm. His hand began to give off a light green glow and he easily reattached it.

"You may want to reattach your arm. I wouldn't like it if one as interesting as yourself died before the sacrifice begins."

And with that Aedric vanished. As Shinta's bankai shattered, a figure began to rise up from the ground.

"How very interesting. This whole sigil system is quite interesting," Kurotsuchi commented, "I wonder who placed such a thing here and when they did it. And not only that..."

Kurotsuchi closed in on Shinta.

"We also have a low ranking shinigami who has achieved bankai. You may not be able to use it very well, but it's still something to look into for a future project."

Kurotsuchi then glanced down at the ground and picked up the remaining arm.

"Now then...I suppose that you want me to reattach this onto you, correct?"

"O-of course! Why wouldn't I?" Shinta shouted.

"...How noisy. I simply thought that I would offer you other...options. After all, it would be child's play to build you a better arm, "Kurotsuchi sighed in disappointment, "However...I wouldn't mind reattaching this thing right now. However, you would have to do something for me."

"W-what would that be?"

"Oh, it isn't much. I just need to borrow your zanpakuto for a short while, that's all."

* * *

The captains prepared themselves as they saw Aedric walking towards them. He was moving at a terrifying speed, aiming towards the center of the city which lie just beyond them. Once he came into view, Soi Fon immediately flash stepped towards him and attacked. Aedric dashed backwards with a quick sonido and avoided the attack completely. Just as Soi Fon was ready to attack again, Aedric slammed his foot onto the ground, causing her to kneel over in pain. He then dashed past her to avoid anymore trouble.

"Scatter, Senbon Zakura."

Aedric continued his dash forwards, ignoring Byakuya's attack completely. The cherry blossom blades were unable to cut Aedric's body and proceeded to cut up Byakuya instead.

"Joukaku Enjou!"

A large wall of flames suddenly surrounded Aedric, preventing him from moving.

"...You are a fool to have come here, Yamamoto-Genryusai Shigekuni. You cannot stop me, regardless of how hard you try."

Yamamoto's body then slowly began to blacken and peel as the fire hitting the ground was being directed towards him.

"Even if the fires of hell consume me, so long as I draw breath, you will never have your way, Aedric Nat!"

In that moment, the fires suddenly died down to reveal Kyouraku and Ukitake on both sides of Aedric. The second the flames died down, a tornado wrapped itself around Aedric. Ukitake took this as his cue to throw a massive ball of electrified water at Aedric. The two attacks combined to form a electrified tornado once again. But before the two could continue their assault, they kneeled over in pain as they became electrified.

"...This is pointless," Aedric scoffed as the tornado died down, "Is this all the Gotei 13 have to offer?"

"Roar, Tenken!"

Without paying it much mind, Aedric smacked the giant blade that fell upon him, shattering it completely. As the blade shards slowly fell to the ground, Aedric lifted a single finger and pointed towards Komamura.

"Bala."

The quick blast sent Komamura flying back with a surprising amount of force. And just a Komamura left the scene, Kenpachi came running in and quickly slammed his zanpakuto down onto Aedric's shoulder.

-*Slit*-

To Kenpachi's surprise, not only was Aedric unharmed, but a large cut appeared on his shoulder instead.

"Heh, no wonder the old man lost," Kenpachi smiled, "But this is nothing, I've dealt with worse."

"...Don't speak as if you were my equal..."

Suddenly a large white circle appeared beneath Kenpachi.

"Fragmentos de la Luna."

-*Slit slit slit*-

The thousands of glass-like shards cut Kenpachi's body all over, making him a nearly unrecognizable mess. However despite this, he still stood with a grin on his face.

"-*Cough*-Ha ha...What's wrong? A-are you...trying to kill me or not?"

"Silence fool!" Aedric shouted while smacking Kenpachi straight to the ground. The very second that Kenpachi hit the ground, a bright light shot up towards the sky. The light then split in half and circled around Aedric and sped towards him from the front and back. Just as the lights neared him, Aedric twisted slightly and grabbed the two swords with each arm. Hitsugaya and Yuki stared in shock as he did so. Aedric then spun violently and threw the twins with all his strength back up into the air and immediately stretched his hands out just as he let go.

"Cero!"

Unable to move, the twins were hit hard with ceros. And, much like the other captains, they were hurt, but still alive.

"Foolish...You're all FOOLISH!" Aedric shouted, "You are all merely post-phoning the inevitable, none of you can stand against me, let alone harm me! Now, lie there in your defeat as you become-"

"_**Getsuga Tenshou**_!"

Just as he did before, Aedric grabbed the Getsuga and proceeded to toss it haphazardly to the side. As Ichigo landed, Aedric gave off a small chuckle.

"I didn't pay much attention to it before but, you said 'Getsuga Tenshou' did you not? That's funny...tell me Vaizard, what is the name of your zanpakuto?"

_**"...It's Zangetsu**_." Ichigo replied, not knowing why Aedric asked. Upon hearing this, Aedric began to laughed loudly.

"Ha ha ha! 'Cutting Moon' eh? Do you think that a weakling like you can shatter my Glass Moon?"

Aedric then shot up his hand.

"Cero!"

Ichigo immediately flashed stepped past the cero and swung his zanpakuto as quickly as he could. However, Aedric grabbed it in mid-swing.

"Hmph, pathetic."

"_**Heh, is talking down to people all you're good at?**_," Ichigo smiled as dark energy crackled on his blade, "_**Getsuga Tenshou**_!"

* * *

"Oh my, it appears that we are a little late, " Kurotsuchi commented. The other captains who could still move turned around. Beside him were Unohana, Shinta, Ishida, Chad and Orihime. Both Orihime and Unohana immediately rushed towards the captains where were severely injured.

"Aedric Nat...such a frightening individual. Not only is his reiatsu far beyond any of ours, but his powers make him neigh untouchable. It would be nice if we can at least keep most of his body intact, there is so much more I believe that I can discover from him," Kurotsuchi cackled.

"I assume that you have a plan then?" Yamamoto spoke. Kurotsuchi looked at the head captain as if he had been insulted.

"What kind of question is that? Of course I've come up with a plan. And it involves this little one..." he spoke and he rested his hand onto Shinta's shoulder. Shinta himself looked terrible. He looked completely pale and he held his left arm as he constantly kept looking towards the ground. Understanding that the others didn't understand, Kurotsuchi continued.

"His shikai has a rather unusual ability which allows it to nullify one's reiatsu. This means that if we wield it, all we have to do is strike hard enough to break past Aedric's hierro. Not only that, but if it stays inside of an opponent's body for at least four seconds, the reiatsu inside of the body is nullified and destroys the body from the inside. Quite a spectacular little ability for this situation, wouldn't you all agree?"

"Is he...alright?" Yuki asked. Kurotsuchi chuckled softly.

"Quite the opposite; he just went under a rather painful surgery to attach that arm back onto him. I would be surprised if he could even hold a conversation, what with all the screaming and whatnot. However, I certainly hope that he can at least release his zanpakuto."

Shinta slowly nodded and lifted up his blade.

"B-blossom...K-kuro...hana..." he spoke in a terribly hoarse voice.

* * *

"_**HAAAAAAA!"**_

-*Clash*-

Ichigo suddenly stabbed his sword outward with all his strength, but Aedric stopped the blade with the palm of his hand. Despite the wounds that covered his body, Ichigo kept pushing his sword further as his hands began to bleed.

"Is that it? Is that all you have, VAAAAIIIIIZAAAAARRRRD?" Aedric yelled as he grabbed the blade and yanked Ichigo towards him. Aedric then smacked Ichigo with a strong backhand, shattering most of his mask. Ichigo stumbled a little before regaining his fighting stance and glared at Aedric. He then began to rapidly use his flashstep all around Aedric for his next attack.

"...This again? How many times are you going to rely on this trick? You're pathetic flash steps are no match for my speed," Aedric laughed as he struck the one closest to his left. However, to his shock, he hit nothing but air.

"Wh-what?"

"_**Getsuga..."**_

Aedric immediately spun around, his eyes seething with hatred.

"_**Tenshou!"**_

Aedric immediately shot up his arm.

"Gran Rey Cero!"

Aedric's cero tore through Ichigo's attack and headed straight for Ichigo.

-*Clash*-

Ichigo attacked the cero head on with his zanpakuto. As Ichigo pushed his sword forward, the massive energies radiating off the cero began to pulsate until, finally, Ichigo somehow managed to cleave the attack in two. The stress from taking on such an attack head on caused Ichigo's legs to finally give out. Breathing heavily, he shot a glare straight at Aedric.

"...What are you?" Aedric asked. This was the second time he had fought this person and he had somehow become stronger within the short time span since he defeated him. It defied all logic. Before he could question Ichigo further, he sensed something flying at him.

"You don't know when to give up, do you shini-"

-*Stab stab*-

Two Kurohana blades suddenly embedded themselves into Aedric's left leg and right shoulder. Soi Fon, who threw the two blades, fell to her knees as her leg and shoulder began to bleed.

"H-hurry!" she cried out to the other captains. Aedric stared at the two blades that somehow pierced through his reiatsu. It was at this point that Aedric realized the weakness of his renacimiento. Because the core of his hollow powers were separated from him, he no longer had his hierro. Anybody who could pierce his reiatsu, as unlikely as that was, could harm him. And these blades...

Aedric immediately removed the blades from his body, he would have to be more careful when dealing with the captains. Just as he pulled the second blade from his leg, Kyouraku and Ukitake threw a few more in his direction. There was no time for him to search for the weakling who created these blades, so he let loose a burst of reiatsu to blow them away. However, the blades ignored the burst and continued on their path. Upon noticing this, Aedric leapt backwards in an effort to dodge them.

-*Stab*-

Aedric swung his head around to notice Kenpachi stabbing a blade into his back. His eyes seething with hatred, Aedric grabbed Kenpachi's head and slammed him into the ground, hoping that he would stay down this time. He then ripped the blade out of his back and tossed it aside. As he did so, the Hitsugaya twins charged forth and stabbed their own blades into his body. Ice quickly formed over them in an effort to keep them in.

"ENOUGH!" Aedric screamed. His sudden rise in reiatsu immediately threw the twins away and shattered the ice around the blades.

"I am tired of this game! No matter what you do, it is pointless! POINTLESS!" he screamed at the fallen captains.

"AEDRIC NAT!" a voice from above shouted. Aedric shot a glance upward to see his hated enemy coming down at him, his sword leading a trail of fire as he fell.

"Yamamoto...Genryusai...SHIGEKUNI!" Aedric shouted as he swung his blade to meet Yamamoto's.

-*CLASH*-

-*BOOOOOOOM*-

As their blades met, a huge explosion of reiatsu radiated off of the two and the whole city began to shake. This was it. The result of this power struggle would determine the fate of the shinigami and the spiritual world itself.

-*Crrk crrk*-

Slowly, but surely, Aedric's zanpakuto began to crack under the pressure. Aedric began to shoot glances between his sword and Yamamoto.

"This is not over!" Aedric shouted as Yamamoto's body began to gain more and more wounds from Aedric's power.

-*Shing*-

Suddenly Aedric's zanpakuto split into two pieces. Taking this opportunity to his advantage, Yamamoto grabbed a Kurohana blade that he was hiding in his sash and quickly jammed it into Aedric's chest. A similar stab mark appeared onto Yamamoto, but he ignored the pain. Making absolutely certain that this one won't come out, Yamamoto immediately spun around and slammed his foot onto the blade, stabbing it even further into Aedric's body.

"N-not...yet..." Aedric spat out as he began to wobble towards Yamamoto. However, he was only able to take two steps before his four seconds were up. Aedric gasped as he felt his body get lighter, he understood what had happened to him. But before he could say anything else, the ground began to shake. Suddenly, a gigantic gate appeared behind him. As the doors slammed open, a hand holding a sword shot out and stabbed Aedric, skewering him. Aedric looked one last time up into the night sky to gaze upon the moon. He slowly lifted his arm up, as if to grab the moon out of the sky, but his arm fell lifelessly back down to his side.

"Heh...I guess I...couldn't reach it...after all..." Aedric lamented as he was pulled into the gate. And then, all was silent.

"Is it over?" Ukitake asked out loud as he walked over to Yamamoto. Before he could answer the shrill cries of the remaining hollowed called out. The captains rushed as fast as the could to see what was happening. The hollows were rushing towards the final sigil.

"W-what's happening?" Yuki asked, not understanding the situation.

"They are heading towards the only unactivated point," Kurotsuchi explained, "I would guess that they plan to sacrifice themselves to it in an effort to kill all of us."

Yuki stared in horror as the hollows moved closer and closer to the sigil. The captains were far too weakened to make it there in time and killing the hollows would only activate it. No matter what they did, they would all die. But just as hope seemed to be lost, a strange sound could be heard and the hollows stopped dead in their tracks. The shinigami looked towards a building where the sound was coming from. On it was a strange looking shinigami, he was deathly pale with matted up white hair and a hole where his stomach was. As he stood on the building he was playing a violin, the melody itself seemed to stop the hollows.

"I-it's that guy!" Renji shouted, remembering his encounter with him. The only captains stared in bewilderment as the mysterious shinigami continued to play his melody, all except Yamamoto who had a shocked expression on his face.

"It...can't...be..." he whispered to himself as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing. Suddenly, the hollows began to cry out once again and began vanishing back to Hueco Mundo. Just as the last one vanished, the melody stopped and the figure turned towards the shinigami. In one smooth motion, he bowed before them. Lifting his head up slightly, he mouthed silent words. Although no one could hear them, they understood exactly what he said.

"_**You owe me one, shinigami**_."

And with that, he vanished as well.


	21. Epilogue The True Beginning

A week had passed since the events with Aedric and his arrancar. Many shinigami had perished in the war, but Soul Society was slowly, but surely, returning to normal. Since those events, hollow attacks on the human world had dropped slightly, as if to compensate for the shinigami who had died. As for the mysterious figure who appeared to save them at the end, no one, save Yamamoto knew who he was. For quite some time, he even refused to speak of this person with the other captains. Shutting himself up in his quarters to reflect, he understood that he had to get to the bottom of this.

"...And that's why I called, " Yamamoto spoke to the screen. On it was Urahara, who wanted to report to him as well.

"I see...so it may not have been quite a conscience after all," Urahara trailed off.

"What do you mean?"

"You may have heard this before from the others, but one of the arrancar serving under Aedric was named Jaku Weiss. Does that name ring any bells?"

"Jaku...No, I have never heard that name before. You think he may be related to Merrem Weiss?"

"I felt that the name was too similar so I had a look into the database just to confirm it."

"...Those records are highly confidential and only a few have security access to view them. How did you-"

"Haha, well, I have my ways," Urahara laughed, making light of the situation. However, his gaze quickly shifted back into being serious as he continued, "On Merrem's final report, before he vanished, it mentioned something about 'I have to be the one to stop him. Jaku is my responsibility.' Something must've happened back them and those two are linked together. Also, I confirmed with Kurosaki Ichigo that the arrancar he fought against called herself Faedyn Quartz. She claimed that she was a vasto lorde as well."

"...What could this mean?" Yamamoto asked aloud. All this new information was making no sense to him. Merrem was alive, Jaku was related to him somehow and Faedyn, Merrem's own lieutenant, claimed that she was a vasto lorde.

"There's one more thing," Urahara added as Yamamoto was deep in thought, "It might just be a gut feeling of mine but regarding Jaku Weiss...I'm not sure if he's dead or not..."

"What makes you say that?"

"Unlike the other arrancar, his sigil activated before his body vanished. With his power, it would be easy to fake his death. I think-Who's there?" Urahara yelled out as he spun around. A figure suddenly shot away from his store and into the night. At that moment, Urahara knew that his theory was correct, Jaku was alive. Further more, he listened to their entire conversation. But what freaked him out even more so was the thought that Jaku let himself be found out. How long had he been spying on him...

"Head-captain! If possible, I request that we have more security watching Karakura for a while."

"Agreed, I'll send some agents over right away. We must capture Jaku Weiss at all costs and find out what he knows."

* * *

"Awwww...They figured it out." Jaku pouted as he dragged himself out of a sewage drain. He had been stuck down there for over a week spying on the shinigami stationed in Karakura.

"Well, if that's the case, I might as well head back. Aedric-kun may have failed but I've got other potential candidates for king. Even if he was the best one I had..." he trailed off. Taking a deep breath Jaku cut open a portal to Hueco Mundo and took a glance backwards.

"I'll leave it to you guys to throw the others off. I have to plan this next one out carefully if we want to take out Merrem."

""Aye aye, sir"" Four other Jaku's saluted as they ran off in other directions. The real Jaku let loose a sinister grin as he headed into the portal, ready for the next step in his plan.


End file.
